Identifying new superconductor materials that would be more practical to use in everyday applications would be a major technological breakthrough with huge benefits
for our electricity-hungry civilization. The physicist Dr Suchitra Sebastian is looking for these materials that are so conductive they do not lose any energy at all, and if she succeeds it would be a step towards reducing the amount of electricity required to power homes, factories and offices, helping producers of renewable power meet Europe’s and the world's burgeoning energy needs.
So-called superconductors already exist, however at the moment even the so-called ‘high temperature superconductors’ need to be cooled to temperatures far below zero degrees Celsius in order to work, severely limiting their use.
The discovery of a superconducting material that is abundant in nature and could be used at higher temperatures cheaply and with relative ease ‘would really be the Holy Grail,’ Dr Sebastian said. ‘It would not just be an incremental advantage – it could lead to drastically different ways of sustainable living.’
Biological based superconductors, perhaps? To read more, click here.