South Korean scientists confused the scientific community with a sensational claim in July. The team announced that they had developed a superconductor that works at room temperature.
The claim shook the scientific world, because such a substance is not known so far.
The group calls its alleged miracle substance LK-99. The researchers released a video showing the LK-99 piece partially floating in the air on top of a magnet.
Superconductors are substances in which electricity flows without resistance. In practice, they transfer energy at one hundred percent efficiency.
Superconductors already exist, but the current ones only work at extremely cold temperatures, hundreds of degrees below zero.
Cooling the material to such low temperatures requires a lot of energy and thus the potential energy saving is lost.
The invention would enable futuristic innovations
The alleged discovery by the South Koreans has sparked widespread interest in social media, media and scientists around the world.
According to the researchers, a superconductor that works at room temperature would be a real Holy Grail. If the invention is true, it could start a new industrial revolution.
The discovery of a ground-breaking substance would open new research paths and enable technological innovations, describes the professor of low-temperature physics Pertti Hakonen from Aalto University.
According to him, practical applications of the miracle substance could be, for example, high-speed trains floating in the air, significantly more efficient electrical networks and computers than today, as well as even better medical diagnostic equipment and even a mind-reading device.
The invention could also be helpful in combating climate change. For example, data centers that consume less energy and hovering trains that replace air traffic would help cut carbon dioxide emissions.
– At this stage, it is still difficult to see what all the applications could be made with it. It depends on what kind of properties the superconducting material would have, says Hakonen.
South Korean research has not been peer-reviewed so far. It means that other experts in the scientific field have not pre-assessed the scientific publication suitability of the manuscript.
The Korean team published two of their research articles on a website where researchers can share their research before peer review and official publication.
The researchers also published the recipe for LK-99. The alleged miracle substance contains, among other things, lead apatite and copper. Apatite is a mineral that contains calcium phosphate. It, on the other hand, is found in the bones of vertebrates.
Several research groups around the world are now trying to confirm the alleged findings of the South Koreans.
Finnish experts are skeptical
Two claims by the Koreans seem to support that LK-99 is a superconductor that works at room temperature.
First, they say they have taken measurements where the electrical resistance of the LK-99 appears to be zero.
Secondly, the piece shown in the video partially levitates, i.e. floats on top of the magnet. This could indicate that it is a superconductor, since the magnetic field cannot penetrate the body.
Top Finnish superconductor researchers are so far suspicious of the results published by the South Koreans.
Similar studies have been published before and many of them have proven to be unreliable, explains Professor Hakonen.
– Even if levitation in this case seems to support superconductivity, it could be a purely magnetic phenomenon, Hakonen estimates.
Then it wouldn’t be about superconductivity. But Hakonen considers the Koreans’ research a good starting point for the continuation.
Now the results should be repeated in another laboratory. It would prove that the results of the Korean study are credible.
According to Hakonen, it would be good if the Koreans distributed LK-99 samples to other researchers. Then they would be able to make their own measurements.
Professor of technical physics at Aalto University Päivi Törmä estimates that there is more than a 90 percent probability that LK-99 is not a superconductor.
– Here it is claimed that a miracle substance could have been created without cooling. It would be completely revolutionary, Törmä says in a video call to .
According to Törmä, the Koreans’ results are very preliminary, and based on them, it cannot yet be claimed that LK-99 is a genuine room-temperature superconductor. But he states that this cannot be completely ruled out for the time being.
Törmä leads the international organization established last year SuperC research groupwhose goal is to find a superconductor that works at room temperature within the next ten years.
From Finland, professor Pertti Hakonen and a professor of physics at the University of Jyväskylä are also involved in the group Tero Heikkilä.
The members of the research group that discovered LK-99 are not well-known names in the scientific world of superconductivity, Törmä says.
Based on the research papers, the Korean group’s information on certain issues was quite weak, he states.
– That also raises doubts. But on the other hand, you can sometimes find something with luck, even if you are not a super expert. Science has such a funny side, says Törmä.
It would be possible to repeat the test in Finland
Aalto University’s technical physics laboratory is one of about ten laboratories participating in the SuperC group’s research to find a superconductor that works at room temperature.
Among other things, the group searches for possible superconducting substances with the help of artificial intelligence. Currently, the group is researching double-layer graphene and graphite.
Professor Pertti Hakonen says that an attempt could be made to repeat the South Korean experiment in Aalto University’s laboratory. But first you should get a high quality LK-99 sample from somewhere.
The SuperC research group has already considered whether they should join the LK-99 research, says Hakonen.
For now, there are so many unclear questions that the group continues with a wait-and-see attitude.
– If we start getting a lot of confirmations that there is something to it, then of course we will start investigating it here as well, says Hakonen.
The SuperC team has a project kick-off meeting in Finland at the end of August. According to Päivi Törmä, who leads the group, it is decided there whether they will go and do experiments with LK-99 or other similar materials.
Reports of the LK-99 experiments, carefully prepared by experienced superconductivity researchers, will start coming in about a couple of months, Törmä estimates.
In a year at the latest, the scientific community should have a view on whether LK-99 is a genuine room-temperature superconductor.
You can discuss the topic until Thursday, August 10 at 11 p.m.