Holy Grail of material science: how did MIT scientists achieve superconductivity? Details here
superconductivity that promises zero resistance to electricity at room temperature continues to be the 'holy grail' of material science. It can be achieved technically by moving electrons as efficiently as possible. This is called improving electron mobility. The scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have made a breakthrough in the field but in a different way. They have increased the electron mobility or reduced the resistance to electricity by creating a thin film atom by atom using molecular beam epitaxy to lower the material’s number of impurities and defects.
MIT Scientists Increase Electron Mobility
Experts have said that it could prove to be a game-changer for thermoelectric devices and spintronic applications. According to the research paper published in 'Materials Today Physics', MIT scientists succeeded in making a ternary tetradymite only 100 nanometers thick, but it has exceeded the electron mobility to a level not achieved so far.
Holy Grail of material science
In a press statement, MIT’s Jagadeesh Moodera, a co-author of the study, said that earlier what people had achieved in the field of electron mobility was like traffic on a road under construction, you’re backed up, you can’t drive, it’s dusty, and it’s a mess. He added that in the new material, it was like driving on the Mass Pike with no traffic.
MIT researchers make a crystalline structure
Adopting a new method, the MIT researchers built a crystalline structure one atom at a time. They fired atoms onto a substrate in a
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