Is the Next Generation of Room Temperature Superconductors Emerging Following LK-99? Unveiling the Mystery of PCPOSOS

Is the Next Generation of Room Temperature Superconductors Emerging Following LK-99? Unveiling the Mystery of PCPOSOS

In July 2023, claiming to have developed the "Room Temperature and Pressure Superconductor" LK-99, Professor Kim Hyun-tak of the Physics Department at William & Mary College in the United States, along with the Quantum Energy Research Institute team, stirred up a global buzz. They are now set to present another superconducting material called 'PCPOSOS' next month.

'차세대' 상온초전도체

According to the schedule released by the American Physical Society (APS), Professor Kim Hyun-tak and Lee Seok-bae, the representative of the Quantum Energy Research Institute, will unveil the experimental results of the superconducting material 'PCPOSOS' at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society to be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota on March 4th.

The abstract of the presentation submitted to the APS by Professor Kim's research team states, "We synthesized a material 'PCPOSOS' exhibiting superconducting characteristics at room temperature and pressure." According to the research team, PCPOSOS is a material that includes sulfur in addition to the existing LK-99. They explained that when PCPOSOS was placed on a magnet, characteristics of superconducting materials such as zero resistance and the Meissner effect (complete diamagnetism) were observed. Furthermore, they claimed that the material partially levitated above the magnet.

Zero resistance refers to the property where electrical resistance becomes '0' below a certain temperature. The Meissner effect is the effect of a material exhibiting superconductivity while expelling magnetic fields externally. If the Meissner effect occurs, the object should levitate above a magnet. The research team announced that they confirmed these properties in the new PCPOSOS experiment. They also mentioned their previous publication of experimental results of LK-99 on the preprint site 'Archive' in August last year.

The research team explained, "The magnetic field of the magnet increases from the center to the edge, and the observed magnetic levitation phenomenon occurred near the center of the magnet." They stated that the material levitated in the vicinity of the critical magnetic field Hc1~Hc2, the upper limit of the magnetic field where the Meissner effect is maintained, and that the magnetic levitation characteristics disappeared near the critical line.

Previously, regarding LK-99, which the research team claimed to be a room temperature and pressure superconductor, opinions were gathered in the direction of 'lack of evidence for superconductivity' through verification by domestic and international research teams. In December 2023, the LK-99 Verification Committee of the Korean Superconducting Low Temperature Society concluded, "The data from the preprint paper published by the research team does not demonstrate zero resistance and the Meissner effect," stating that "LK-99 is a semiconductor with very high resistance."

On the other hand, Lee Seok-bae, the representative of the Quantum Energy Research Institute, maintained the position that LK-99 is indeed a room temperature and pressure superconductor, revealing this stance at the 'Vision Declaration Ceremony of Yonsei University Quantum Industry Convergence Leading Unit (QILI)' on February 9th.

Amidst the announcement of unveiling a room temperature and pressure superconductor different from LK-99 on March 4th, Professor Kim's research team announced that they would release two videos capturing scenes of PCPOSOS levitating.