On July 22nd, a South Korean research team released a paper claiming to have achieved the world's first room temperature and atmospheric pressure superconductor, which immediately sparked a global craze. The discovery of superconductivity is considered one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century and the Holy Grail in physics. However, until now, the practical application of superconductors has been limited to a few specific scenarios such as magnetic levitation. The reason is not difficult to understand. The extremely low superconducting Tc that maintains material superconductivity is a great obstacle for large-scale application development. If superconductivity can be achieved at room temperature, it will have a significant impact on human society. Affected by this news, a US stock company called American Superconductor (AMSC. US) surged 150% before Tuesday's trading session. On August 1st, the superconducting sector of the A-share market also experienced a limit up trend, with Faersheng, Baili Electric, and Yongding Co., Ltd. increasing their limit. Western Superconductor rose by more than 7%, while Lianchuang Optoelectronics rose by 6.3%. On August 2nd, relevant individual stocks continued their strong performance. What exactly is' room temperature superconductivity '? How will it change our lives? Is the research results in South Korea reliable? Jingtai brings you to explore the mystery.

01 | What is "room temperature superconductivity"? To understand 'room temperature superconductivity', first we need to know what 'superconductivity' is. Superconductivity "is a special physical phenomenon that refers to certain substances exhibiting the property of" zero resistance "at low temperatures or high pressures. This substance is called a" superconductor ". Simply put, 'superconductivity' refers to the phenomenon of zero resistance under specific conditions. And "room temperature and atmospheric pressure superconductivity" refers to the phenomenon of zero resistance and diamagnetism that can be achieved without the need for special conditions. Superconductors have zero resistance and can transmit electricity without loss; Having complete diamagnetism, liquid nitrogen superconducting magnetic levitation is a very intuitive manifestation. Public information shows that in 1911, Dutch physicist H. Kamolin Onnes discovered that mercury suddenly entered a new state when the temperature dropped to around 4.2K, with a resistance so small that it could not be measured. He referred to this new state of mercury as a superconducting state. At present, the superconducting transition temperature of most simple metal or alloy materials is below 40K (-233 ℃), which limits the widespread application of superconducting materials; At present, only two unconventional superconducting material systems, copper oxide superconductor and nickel oxide superconductor, have been found with transition temperatures reaching the liquid nitrogen temperature range of 77K (-196 ℃). The superconducting material system announced by the South Korean research team exhibits superconductivity at "room temperature and normal pressure" (transition temperature of about 400K (127 ℃)). If successfully reproduced, it will be a revolutionary progress in the field of superconductivity.

02 | What does "room temperature superconductivity" mean? At present, the application of superconducting materials is limited to low-temperature and high-pressure environments. If breakthroughs are made in room temperature and atmospheric pressure superconducting materials, it will bring about changes in many fields such as energy, transportation, computing, medical testing, and so on. Firstly, in terms of energy, the transmission of electricity would generate consumption, and as the distance increases, the consumption will increase. The zero resistance characteristic of "room temperature superconductivity" may achieve ultra long distance lossless transmission, greatly improving production capacity and utilization efficiency. Secondly, in terms of transportation, non-destructive power transmission and efficient energy storage, or enabling new energy vehicles to charge and travel 2000 kilometers in five minutes, maglev trains may become a daily routine, which will directly change people's transportation mode in the future. Finally, in terms of information processing, chips will no longer need to consider heating issues, and mobile phones can also have small supercomputing capabilities. The bottleneck of computing power will be broken, and artificial intelligence and digital technology will usher in explosive development. It can be said that the non-destructive world brought about by "room temperature superconductivity" is like a science fiction movie, undoubtedly opening the fourth industrial revolution.

Is "LK-99" reliable? After the South Korean team announced the first implementation of "room temperature superconductivity", the academic community was first full of doubts. The reason for this is that the superconductor preparation process announced by the South Korean team is extremely simple, comparable to ancient alchemy. A pile of powder materials is thrown into a furnace to be burned, and after burning, the superconductor material "LK-99" can appear. The process is simple enough to be completed in an ordinary high school laboratory. Secondly, the Korean team only described the preparation process and did not provide experimental samples for testing. Therefore, the world was initially in a wait-and-see state. However, on August 1st, the "plot" reversed and the material was simultaneously reproduced in laboratories in China, the United States, and Russia. On the US side, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory announced that under supercomputer simulation, its results support the release of "LK-99" by South Korea as a room temperature superconductor material. On the Russian side, Russian scientist Iris Alexandra stated on social media Twitter that he has successfully prepared a "LK-99" crystal with room temperature diamagnetism, which is one of the characteristics of superconductors. On August 2nd, the South Korean room temperature superconducting team announced to the public that their paper had defects, and a member of the team released it without authorization. Currently, the team has requested that the paper be removed from the shelves. According to reports, this study is actually a supplement to the superconductor paper published in a Korean journal in April this year, and has applied for review in international journals.

04 | Multiple listed companies responding to every "news" in the field of room temperature superconductivity will bring turmoil to the global capital market, and this time is no exception. On August 1st, the A-share superconductivity concept showed a strong trend. As of the closing date, Falsheng, Baili Electric, and Yongding Shares have raised their limit, Western Superconductor has risen by more than 7%, and Lianchuang Optoelectronics has risen by more than 6%. On August 1st, the US stock market, a heavy telecommunications equipment company called "American Superconductor," rose nearly 150% and closed up 60%. On the morning of August 2nd, the news that the South Korean room temperature superconducting team admitted that the paper had defects did not stop the A-share "superconducting whirlwind". As of press release, China Cable Testing, Falsheng, Zhongfu Industry, and Baili Electric have raised their limit, while Yongding Shares have risen by over 8%. Room temperature superconductivity has ignited the market, but the public responses of multiple A-share listed companies have shown a wait-and-see attitude. Lianchuang Optoelectronics stated that in the short term, room temperature superconductivity may be a hot topic for the company, but it does not have a rapid promoting effect on the business. Because it may take 20-30 years for new materials to emerge and truly achieve industrial applications. It is reported that the company currently chooses to use high-temperature superconductivity because its current carrying characteristics and cooling conditions are relatively better choices. Yongding Co., Ltd. stated that its business involves second-generation high-temperature superconducting tapes and has generated revenue, which is a key development direction for the company in recent years. The company believes that the room temperature superconductivity mentioned by the Korean team belongs to a biased concept, which is still in the laboratory stage and needs to be repeatedly demonstrated, and it will take a long time to land and commercialize.

05 Jingtai Discussion | How Far Is "Room Temperature Superconductivity" Away from Us? How does the academic community view the "room temperature superconductivity" technology released by the South Korean team? According to the interface news, researchers from the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the Shenyang National Research Center for Materials Science, Institute of Metals, Chinese Academy of Sciences also verified the research of the Korean team. Among them, the paper released by the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics team showed that they did not detect superconductivity based on the materials synthesized by the Korean team. On July 31st, Professor Sun Yue from Southeast University released an experimental video titled "Room Temperature Superconductivity Reproduction Experiment - Full Process". The video also stated that there is no superconducting magnetic levitation phenomenon, and whether it is room temperature superconductivity still needs to be verified. At present, the preparation cost of room temperature superconducting materials is high, and batch processing technology has not yet been formed, and the stability of use still needs to be extensively verified. Therefore, even if room temperature superconducting materials are verified, the commercial landing time of room temperature superconductivity cannot be determined yet. Currently, the superconducting technologies that can achieve large-scale commercialization in the industry are still mainly low-temperature superconductivity and high-temperature superconductivity. The experimental results require a certain amount of time from laboratory to commercial application, so even if room temperature superconducting materials are verified, the commercial landing time of room temperature superconducting materials cannot be determined.