[NEWS ANALYSIS] Experts scrutinize if LK-99 superconductor claims are valid

The potential creation of the world’s first room-temperature, ambient-pressure superconductor shook the globe recently, raising excitement as well as a few eyebrows.

A computer-generated image of a superconductor [SHUTTERSTOCK]

The potential creation of the world’s first room-temperature, ambient-pressure superconductor shook the globe recently, raising excitement as well as a few eyebrows.

Stock markets fluctuated in anticipation of a ground-shattering breakthrough by the six-member Korean research team, and social media has been flooded with post after post quipping about its possible implications. However, there are more questions than answers at this point.

Between hope and hype, below are experts’ take on the claimed superconductivity of LK-99 — a potential game-changer or, in the most pessimistic scenario, yet another pipe dream.

Q. Is the room-temperature superconductor claim valid or not?

In a nutshell, it is still too early to tell. But it is, at least, worth undertaking further verifications, according to scientists.

Upon the arrival of self-archived papers by Lee Suk-bae and five co-authors, research institutes and individual scientists worldwide started to verify the studies’ claims. While scientists remain cautious in making any decisive conclusion at this point, the academic community is finding the data “intriguing enough” to try to recreate the result.

Dr. V.P.S. Awana, chief scientist at the National Physical Laboratory of India and the corresponding author of the institute’s latest report on the verification of superconductivity claims, sees potential in LK-99, a compound of lead, copper, phosphorus and oxygen.

“The LK-99 sample quality is not yet verified,” Awana told the Korea JoongAng Daily in a written response Thursday, yet stressed that “my feeling as an active player on superconducting materials for over 35 years is that LK-99 is, to date, the most promising case for room temperature and ambient pressure superconductivity.”

Awana further elaborated that the reported explanation for LK-99’s superconductivity is “reasonable,” though he also added that there remain unanswered questions too.

The National Physical Laboratory of India is conducting a scientific verification of the data presented in the papers, and so far “superconductivity is not seen” in the samples.

Dr. Michael R. Norman, head of the condensed matter theory group at Argonne National Laboratory based in Illinois, suggested that “they [the Korean team] have some very intriguing results, but it's easy to get results that can be misinterpreted,” during a virtual interview Friday.

However, the data is “not [too] skeptical that they're not willing to try it,” said Norman.

“Assuming that people can get a hand on the samples, we'll know for sure, one way or another, in another week or so whether this is going anywhere or not.”

Argonne National Laboratory is also attempting to replicate the results of the studies, like many other institutes across the world.

A research team at Huazhong University of Science and Technology has recently claimed that its LK-99 sample displayed the Meissner effect, meaning that its sample exhibited zero resistivity and the expulsion of a magnetic field.

The Korean Society of Superconductivity and Cryogenics (KSSC) launched a committee to verify the claims on Wednesday, adding that it will run tests on the claimed superconducting material if Quantum Energy Research Centre, a Seoul-based corporation behind the superconductivity claims, provides a sample.

Seoul National University, Korea University, Pohang University of Science and Technology and Sungkyunkwan University are also conducting their own verifications, with the progress rate standing at around 30 percent as of Thursday, according to KSSC.

Why are scientists skeptical about the claims?

Despite encouraging theoretical calculations that LK-99 has the potential to be superconductive at room temperature from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and more, many scientists expressed a varying degree of skepticism with the data presented in the papers.

KSSC told the Korea JoongAng Daily Thursday that "based strictly on the studies and the footage [provided by the team], the material appearing in the research and the footage cannot be considered as a room-temperature, ambient-pressure superconductor.”

The academic society cited the fact that “the figure on the resistivity graph is not zero,” and that “the change in magnetic susceptibility is also puzzling, as it should return to zero at the superconducting transition temperature for a normal superconductor, but instead, it is still negative.”

KSSC added that “it can be argued that the movement of the specimen shown in the footage can be recreated with materials that are not superconductive.”

A video of an experiment for LK-99, a compound that a group of Korean researchers claim has superconductivity. [QUANTUM ENERGY RESEARCH CENTRE]

On the claim of LK-99 displaying the Meissner effect, Norman of Argonne National Laboratory said that additional verification should be made on the baseline behavior of LK-99 above the superconducting transition temperature, which is 127 Celsius degrees, in order to determine whether the material is actually showcasing the Meissner effect.

According to the Argonne Distinguished Fellow, “the problem with this measurement is that the superconducting transition temperature [for LK-99] is so high it's near the boiling point of water. They weren't able to heat the sample up high enough to go into what we call the ‘normal state’ [that is without superconductivity].”

“That's what's causing some people to pause [on taking the claims] at face value,” said Norman.

What’s all the fuss about?

Room-temperature, ambient-pressure superconducting material has been considered the holy grail in the science and technology communities since it allows electrical currents to pass through without losing energy. If realized, it can bring fundamental changes in every aspect involving electricity, from transportation to power generation, significantly boosting energy efficiency.

While there have been claims on the development of room-temperature superconductors before, the ongoing superconductor hype “hasn’t happened before,” said Norman, citing the comparably high accessibility of the raw materials used for the latest study as well as the current digital environment as some of the possible factors behind the unprecedented superconductivity frenzy in the online space.

For example, one previous study for a possible room-temperature superconductor required diamond anvil cells to be recreated, that "very few groups have that capability” to conduct experiments with, according to the scientist.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]