superconductor

One of the displays that has generated a lot of buzz at the Paris Airshow 2011 is EADS’ ZEHST concept – a zero-emission hypersonic airliner, that could be whisking passengers from Tokyo to London in under 2.5 hours, by the year 2050. Sitting alongside the ZEHST model, however, is another EADS concept aimed at the more immediate future. It’s called VoltAir, and it’s a proposed all-electric airliner that could be flying within 25 years. Read More

Using super-high pressures similar to those found deep in the Earth or on a giant planet, researchers from Washington State University (WSU) have created a compact, never-before-seen material capable of storing vast amounts of energy. Described by one of the researchers as “the most condensed form of energy storage outside of nuclear energy,” the material holds potential for creating a new class of energetic materials or fuels, an energy storage device, super-oxidizing materials for destroying chemical and biological agents, and high temperature superconductors. Read More

It has been a long-standing dream to fabricate superconducting nano-scale wires for faster, more powerful electronics. However, this has turned out to be very difficult if not impossible with conventional superconductors because the minimal size for the sample to be superconducting - known as the coherence length - is large. A group of scientists has now fabricated thin films patterned with large arrays of nanowires and loops that are superconducting when cooled below about 30 kelvin (-243 degrees Celsius). Even more interesting, they found they could change their resistance by applying a magnetic field. Read More

The world of superconductors just became a much smaller place. Scientists taking part in an Ohio University led study have discovered the world’s smallest superconductor – a sheet of four pairs of molecules measuring less than one nanometer (that's 0.000001 millimeter) wide, potentially paving the way for next – generation nanoscale electronics. Read More

How often do you find yourself with a portable computer burning up on your lap with strange noises coming from your fan? Thanks to a recent research conducted at Stanford University, bismuth telluride — a new, easy-to-manipulate material with unique electrical properties — could make computer fans a distant memory while allowing for much faster and power-efficient devices. Move over electronics - here comes spintronics. Read More

Scientists at the University of Texas have developed a superconducting sheet of lead only two atoms thick, a remarkably pliable nanomaterial that could help lead to new breakthroughs in electricity generation and computer processing speeds. Read More