Being based on iron could make these substances more commercially enticing, too. The fragility of cuprates, which as ceramics are quite brittle, has long hampered applications such as superconducting power lines. If iron-based materials are easier to handle and manufacture than cuprates, “they will become very important,” Haule adds.

6 Comments

1. 1. ridelo 08:17 PM 4/29/08

   Will there ever be superconductors at room temperature?

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

2. 2. Tatarize in reply to ridelo 03:38 PM 9/3/08

   Sure, if you lower your room temperature to -130C (probably a room on some of Jupiter's moons could do it).
   
   They might. We don't know why some of them work at higher temperatures, so speculating on the limits of the technology isn't exactly possible at this point. If they did however, it would pretty much change the world overnight.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

3. 3. Ruebenbauer 06:56 PM 6/23/09

   The point is that iron does not have any magnetic moment in these compounds. Such iron configurations are well known as the so-called low spin divalent iron. What is amazing that similar configuration of electrons occurs in the weakly metallic systems. Hence, superconductivity could develop in the compound containing iron as basic constituent. There is no net electron spin density in the let us say FeSe. The orbital moment is quenched as well as this is pretty metallic system with the Fermi level crossing filled band. Mechanically these compounds are even more fragile as cuprates. This is current point of view based on many experiments. It seems that layered structure resembling closely two-dimensional lattice is common for all these compounds including cuprates.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

4. 4. Bandi 02:33 PM 9/23/09

   So, all of the HTCs ha the similar quasi two dimensional layer structure, and whwn someone put in a mixed coctail of elements then we get a new HTC. By this time we knew the CuO2 layers, now we discovered the FeAs layers.
   What about carbon? Did anyone examined graphite layers by this time? Or is there anybody, who tried to put such a mix of elements between carbon layers? Or change some of the C atoms in the layer (substitute it with Cu for example).
   It may work, or it may not. May be it is worth to try it.
   And when it works, after that we have a lot of time to find out how, in the meantime the world changes absolutely (hopefully in the right way).

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

5. 5. Phillip Boldt 01:12 PM 3/19/10

   Did anyone check out K.R. Shridhar co founder and CEO of bloom energy his new bloom box is loosely based on this technology you my be surprised on how close.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

6. 6. ZPhy in reply to ridelo 02:50 PM 4/24/10

   Once we understand high temperature superconductivity we might be able to predict what conditions could arise that phenomena and then we will be able to build one that operates at room temperature. But looking at the last 20 years trend there seem to be no much leap in the critical temperatures of newly discovered high TC.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this