Electricity flows through wires to deliver power, but it loses energy as it moves, delivering less than it started with.
Electricity flows through wires to deliver power, but it loses energy as it moves, delivering less than it started with. But that energy loss isn’t a given. Scientists at Penn State have found a new way to identify types of materials known as superconductors that allow power to travel without any resistance, meaning no energy is lost.
The catch is that these superconductor materials are limited in how they can be used in everyday life, especially because superconductivity requires extreme temperatures too low for things like next-generation energy or advanced electronic devices. With the support from the "Theory of Condensed Matter" program at Basic Energy Science of Department of Energy (DOE), a team at Penn State developed a new approach to predict which materials could behave as superconductors, potentially bringing us closer to discover new superconductors at higher temperatures.
The theoretical prediction of superconductors, particularly the high temperature ones, remain elusive as it is commonly believed that the existing superconductivity theory is applicable only to low temperature superconductors, explained Zi-Kui Liu, professor of materials science and engineering at Penn State.
Read More: Pennsylvania State University
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