French scientists say a material they built atom-by-atom conducts electricity without resistance at minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit.
If this is confirmed by other studies, it will be warmest superconductivity ever achieved, experts say.Researchers at the Ecole Superieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris report in the journal Science that they achieved high temperature superconductivity in a material they created atom-by-atom in a vacuum cabinet.
Science said the group made the material of layers of copper-oxygen sandwiched between layers of bismuth, strontium, calcium and oxygen atoms.
Using small batches of the material, the French researchers introduced an electrical current and then dropped the temperature.
A material made of eight copper-oxygen layers became a superconductor when its temperature reached about minus 10 degrees F. Samples with three to eight copper-oxygen layers also showed signs of superconductivity, but at cooler temperatures.
A report on the study was published Friday in Science. The lead author is Michel Lagues.
Resistance is a phenomenon that retards the flow of electricity though a conductor, such as copper wire. Superconductivity would allow transmission of power for long distances with a minimum loss of efficiency and prevent damage to electronic equipment due to the heat generated by resistance.
Science said the results of the French experiment will not be generally accepted until other researchers have been able to verify the work.