Scientists for the first time "woke up" their own superconductivity of graphene

The international physicist team managed to “wake up” the superconductivity of pure graphene without impurities. The discovery will further expand the potential and scope of unique material. The description of the study is published in the journal Nature Communications .

Until now, graphene superconductivity - the properties to possess zero electric resistance - was achieved only by doping with superconducting material: in 2016, scientists introduced the calcium atom of the atom of the atom into the crystal lattice. However, the structure of the material changed and it could not be called pure graphene. Other researchers received a similar result, placing graphene on super -conducted materials.

Physicists from the UK, Israel and Norway were able to “wake up” their own superconductivity to graphene. In the course of the experiment, scientists associated graphene with praseodima-medy oxide (Praseodymium Cerium Copper Oxide, PCCO)-material with superconductivity, the electrical properties of which are well studied. Unlike previous experiments, physicists using the method of scanning tunnel microscopy managed to distinguish the superconductivity of graphene itself from the similar properties of the RSSO. It turned out that in the materials of the electrons were united in different ways-the RSSS is characterized by D-symmetry, and in graphene they were presumably observed P-wave, which was moving with zero resistance.

“In other words, we saw that in graphene, superconductivity is a completely different type than in the RSSO,” said one of the authors of the work, a physicist from Cambridge Jason Robinson. “It was a very important step, this means that we saw superconductivity, not coming from the outside, which means that RSSS was needed only in order to release Grafen's own superconductivity.”

As the press release on the University of Cambridge notes, scientists are not yet sure that they observed P-Symmetry in graphene. Currently, superconductivity with the P-symmetry is not sufficiently studied, there are disputes about whether it exists at all and what are its properties.

If the data obtained by the international team will be confirmed in other experiments, graphene will become the first material with a p-wave supercondition at a temperature above –269 ° C. Supervisors are used to create powerful magnetic fields, for example, for MRI or magnetic pillow trains. However, now such materials receive the desired properties at a temperature of approximately –269 ° C.

If a superconductor operating at high temperatures is found, this will increase the efficiency of medical equipment and other devices. Grafen is the main candidate in this area. Own superconductivity will significantly expand its sphere of application in supercomputers and, possibly, future devices acting on the principles of molecular electronics.