Scientists from South Korea discover superconductor that functions at room temperature, ambient pressure::For the first time in the world, we succeeded in synthesizing the
room-temperature superconductor ($T_c \ge 400$ K, 127$^\circ$C) working at
ambient pressure with a modified lead-apatite (LK-99) structure. The
superconductivity of LK-99 is proved with the Critical temperature ($T_c$),
Zero-resistivity, Critical current ($I_c$), Critical magnetic field ($H_c$),
and the Meissner effect. The superconductivity of LK-99 originates from minute
structural distortion by a slight volume shrinkage (0.48 %), not by external
factors such as temperature and pressure. The shrinkage is caused by Cu$^{2+}$
substitution of Pb$^{2+}$(2) ions in the insulating network of Pb(2)-phosphate
and it generates the stress. It concurrently transfers to Pb(1) of the
cylindrical column resulting in distortion of the cylindrical column interface,
which creates superconducting quantum wells (SQWs) in the interface. The heat
capacity results indicated that the new model is suitable for explaining the
superconductivity of LK-99. The unique structure of LK-99 that allows the
minute distorted structure to be maintained in the interfaces is the most
important factor that LK-99 maintains and exhibits superconductivity at room
temperatures and ambient pressure.
Of the three, the first author (and corresponding author) and second author claim Q-centre as affiliation. If you check the webpage, it is not a research lab but just a commercial company selling this as a product. The third author claims KU-KIST as affiliation, but the only one I can find in google scholar has no background on superconductivity at all, and actually I can't even find them as a current faculty member of KU-KIST.
If you look at the other paper they have in arxiv about the same, list of authors from the same Q-Centre, plus a last author from Hanyang university, but researchgate shows him as last publishing in 2006, so I assume long time retired by now. Not in the field of superconductors either.
I am looking for other work from any of the authors, and I can find none. Science is an incremental process, with some breakthroughs, sure, but incremental. Cancer won't be cured in a day, and room temperature ambient pressure superconductors won't just happen out of nowhere. Even room temperature superconductors at very high pressures aren't really a thing, as the recent retractions of Ranga Dias' papers shows.
As an aside, here is an interesting talk about the work that went into showing that the data was manipulated in those high-pressure room-temperature superconductor papers - as much as papers with manipulated data are a terrible thing for science, the fact that people will go to these lengths to prove them wrong is very reassuring. A paper that is wrong only misleads for a while, actual science pushes through and buries it eventually.
There have been A LOT of room temperature superconductor claims, thus far all have been irreproducible, either due to measurement error or likely fraud. I wouldn’t take this one seriously, especially since non of the coauthors have any previous publications in this field. That’s a big red flag.
I will reserve my judgement until someone else repeats this. Too many times these types of papers end up being retracted due to mistakes or proven false later. FTL neutrinos come to mind.
Transmit basically unlimited electricity over a tiny conductor without losses. You could produce (solar) energy in the southern hemisphere and send it north during northern winter through a small wire.
Just look at these quantum locking stuff. Imagine what manner of applications would be made possible if we can use it in our daily life without having to lug around liquid nitrogen to cool down the superconductor.