U.S Navy Files Patent for Room Temperature Superconductor

In 1911, Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovered the phenomenon of superconductivity, one of the extraordinary manifestations of quantum physics.

The first and most obvious application of superconductors is efficient electricity conductivity.

If the electric grid contained superconducting generators and power lines, it would significantly boost the cost and efficiency of a nation’s electric infrastructure.

However, it’s too expensive to do so as superconducting materials only work efficiently at very low temperatures, usually around absolute zero.

Large-scale implementation of superconductors is technically possible, but economically infeasible.

In addition to their limited present-day uses, such as particle accelerators and MRIs, superconductors have great potential for many futuristic applications.

Although very promising and doable on paper, the only possible solution for widespread application would be the creation of a room temperature superconductor.

U.S. Navy Cracks Room Temperature Superconductor

Scientists and engineers are constantly hard at work trying to create superconductors that operate at room temperature.

Now, a recent study provided evidence of room temperature superconductivity using silver nanoparticles and a gold matrix.

In fact, the U.S. Navy is so confident about its take on its room temperature superconductor that it filed a patent for its solution.

The Navy scientists listed as the inventor on the patent application is Salvatore Cezar Pais.

Read More: Researchers put a new Spin on Superconductivity

Per Pais’ patent application document, room-temperature superconductivity manifests using a wire with an insulator core and an aluminum PZT (lead zirconate titanate) coating:

“When a pulsed current is passed through the wire, while the wire is vibrated, room temperature superconductivity is induced… This concept enables the transmission of electrical power without any losses and exhibits optimal thermal management (no heat dissipation), which leads to the design and development of novel energy generation and harvesting devices with enormous benefits to civilization.”

Read More: How Superconductors Will Create Faster, More Efficient Quantum Computers