PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

ORNL study advances quest for better superconducting materials

2014-01-28
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Ron Walli
wallira@ornl.gov
865-576-0226
DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
ORNL study advances quest for better superconducting materials

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Jan. 27, 2014 – Nearly 30 years after the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity, many questions remain, but an Oak Ridge National Laboratory team is providing insight that could lead to better superconductors.

Their work, published in Physical Review Letters, examines the role of chemical dopants, which are essential to creating high-temperature superconductors – materials that conduct electricity without resistance. The role of dopants in superconductors is particularly mysterious as they introduce non-uniformity and disorder into the crystal structure, which increases resistivity in non-superconducting materials.

By gaining a better understanding of how and why chemical dopants alter the behavior of the original (parent) material, scientists believe they can design superconductors that work at higher temperatures. This would make them more practical for real-world wire applications because it would lessen the extreme cooling required for conventional superconducting material. Existing "high-temperature superconductors" operate at temperatures in the range of negative 135 degrees Celsius and below.

"Through this work, we have created a framework that allows us to understand the interplay of superconductivity and inhomogeneity," said lead author Krzysztof Gofryk, a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Energy laboratory's Materials Science and Technology Division. "Thus, for the first time we have a clearer picture of the side effects of dopants."

ORNL's Athena Safa-Sefat, who led the team, noted that while scientists have made progress since the first observation of superconductivity in the Dutch province of South Holland in 1911, they still do not know what causes some complex multicomponent materials to be superconductive at high temperatures. Additional progress will most likely hinge on answering fundamental questions regarding the interactions of atoms with the crystal, and this work represents a step forward.

"Our bulk and atomic-scale measurements on an iron-based superconductor have revealed that strong superconductivity comes from highly doped regions in the crystal where dopants are clustered," Sefat said. "If we can design a crystal where such clusters join in an organized manner, we can potentially produce a much higher performance superconductor."

While several companies manufacture superconducting materials that have been used in specialty applications and demonstration settings, widespread adoption is restricted by cost and complexity. An ideal superconducting wire would be constructed from inexpensive, earth-abundant non-toxic elements. It will also be low-cost for the manufacture of long lengths that are round and flexible and feature good mechanical – non-brittle – properties with a high superconducting temperature.



INFORMATION:

Other authors of the paper, titled "Local inhomogeneity and filamentary superconductivity in Pr-doped CaFe2As2," are Minghu Pan, Claudia Cantoni, Bayrammurad Saparov and Jonathan Mitchell. This research was funded by DOE's Office of Science.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy's Office of Science. DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of the time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.

NOTE TO EDITORS: You may read other press releases from Oak Ridge National Laboratory or learn more about the lab at http://www.ornl.gov/news. Additional information about ORNL is available at the sites below:
Twitter - http://twitter.com/oakridgelabnews
RSS Feeds - http://www.ornl.gov/ornlhome/rss_feeds.shtml
Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/oakridgelab
YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/user/OakRidgeNationalLab
LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/companies/oak-ridge-national-laboratory
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/Oak.Ridge.National.Laboratory



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

GSA Bulletin covers the US, Italy, Iran, Jamaica, Chile, and Argentina, and China

2014-01-28
Boulder, Colo., USA – Learn more about river morphology in Oregon; coastal responses to sea level; the Tertiary Sabzevar Range, Iran; carbon-dioxide ...

Geoscience Currents No. 83: The Challenges of Comparing Data on Minorities in the Geosciences

2014-01-28
Much of the national data related to the geosciences in higher education come from federal datasets through the National Science Foundation and the Department of ...

Critical protein discovered for healthy cell growth in mammals

2014-01-28
A team of researchers from Penn State University and the University of California has discovered a protein that is required for the growth of tiny, but critical, hair-like structures called cilia on cell ...

Boston University study examines the development of children's prelife reasoning

2014-01-28
Most people, regardless of race, religion or culture, believe they are immortal. That is, people ...

Gossip and ostracism may have hidden group benefits

2014-01-28
Conventional wisdom holds that gossip and social exclusion are always malicious, undermining trust and morale in groups. But sharing this kind of "reputational information" could have ...

OU study in Oklahoma panhandle finds additional active process producing nanodiamonds

2014-01-28
In a University of Oklahoma-led study, researchers discovered an additional active process, not excluding an extraterrestrial event, that may have led to high concentrations of nanodiamonds in Younger ...

Asian ozone pollution in Hawaii is tied to climate variability

2014-01-28
Air pollution from Asia has been rising for several decades but Hawaii had seemed to escape the ozone pollution that drifts east with the springtime winds. Now a team of researchers has found that shifts ...

University of Montreal study analyzes content of nightmares and bad dreams

2014-01-28
This news release is available in French. MONTREAL, January 28, 2014 - According to a new study by researchers at the ...

NASA spacecraft take aim at nearby supernova

2014-01-27
An exceptionally close stellar explosion discovered on Jan. 21 has become the focus of observatories around and above the globe, including several NASA spacecraft. The blast, designated SN 2014J, occurred ...

Biases in animal studies may differ from those in clinical trials, UCSF study finds

2014-01-27
A new analysis of animal studies on cholesterol-lowering statins by UC San Francisco researchers found that non-industry studies had results that favored the ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Designing a sulfur vacancy redox disruptor for photothermoelectric and cascade‑catalytic‑driven cuproptosis–ferroptosis–apoptosis therapy

Recent advances in dynamic biomacromolecular modifications and chemical interventions: Perspective from a Chinese chemical biology consortium

CRF and the Jon DeHaan Foundation to launch TCT AI Lab at TCT 2025

Canada’s fastest academic supercomputer is now online at SFU after $80m upgrades

Architecture’s past holds the key to sustainable future

Laser correction for short-sightedness is safe and effective for older teenagers

About one in five people taking Ozempic, Wegovy or Mounjaro say food tastes saltier or sweeter than before

Taking semaglutide turns down food noise, research suggests

Type 2 diabetes may double risk of sepsis, large community-based study suggests

New quantum sensors can withstand extreme pressure

Tirzepatide more cost-effective than semaglutide in patients with knee osteoarthritis and obesity

GLP-1 drugs shown cost-effective for knee osteoarthritis and obesity

Interactive apps, AI chatbots promote playfulness, reduce privacy concerns

How NIL boosts college football’s competitive balance

Moffitt researchers develop machine learning model to predict urgent care visits for lung cancer patients

Construction secrets of honeybees: Study reveals how bees build hives in tricky spots

Wheat disease losses total $2.9 billion across the United States and Canada between 2018 and 2021

New funding fuels development of first potentially regenerative treatment for multiple sclerosis

NJIT student–faculty team wins best presentation award for ant swarm simulation

Ants defend plants from herbivores but can hinder pollination

When the wireless data runs dry

Inquiry into the history of science shows an early “inherence” bias

Picky eaters endure: Ecologists use DNA to explore diet breadth of wild herbivores

Study suggests most Americans would be healthier without daylight saving time

Increasing the level of the protein PI31 demonstrates neuroprotective effects in mice

Multi-energy X-ray curved surface imaging-with multi-layer in-situ grown scintillators

Metasurface enables compact and high-sensitivity atomic magnetometer

PFAS presence confirmed in the blood of children in Gipuzkoa

Why do people believe lies?

SwRI installs private 5G network for research, development, testing and evaluation

[Press-News.org] ORNL study advances quest for better superconducting materials