Thin nano-coating acts as superconductor

https://www.materialstoday.com/nanomaterials/news/thin-nanocoating-acts-as-superconductor/
1 May 2017 | Laurie Donaldson
FacebookTwitterLinkedInGoogle+More

An SEM image of the superconducting nanowires.

A collaboration between experimental physicists at Saarland University and the Leibniz Institute for New
Materials has produced a new ultrathin film that offers superconducting properties, and which could lead to a
range of applications in aerospace and medical technology. The team showed that, at a temperature below
around –200°C, their thin and flexible nanomaterial was able to conduct electricity without loss, as well as
levitate magnets and screen magnetic fields.

The study, which was reported in the journal Superconductor Science and Technology [Zeng et al. Supercond.
Sci. Technol. (2017) DOI: 10.1088/1361-6668/aa544a], demonstrated superconducting nanowires that can be
woven into an ultra-thin film, suggesting an effective approach to the nanowire synthesis of high-temperature
superconductors. The material comprises a fabric of plastic fibers and high-temperature superconducting
nanowires, making it extremely pliable and adaptable. It is also very light, much less than a conventional
superconductor, making it useful for applications where weight can be an issue as an alternative to many
superconducting materials, which tend to be rigid, brittle and dense.

"Theoretically, the material can be made to any size. And we need fewer
resources than are typically required to make superconducting ceramics, so
our superconducting mesh is also cheaper to fabricate."Uwe Hartmann

Superconducting granular Bi-2212 nanowires were synthesized by electrospinning, a technique more common
in making high-yield polymer micro-fibers. A liquid material was then pushed through a fine nozzle to which a
high electrical voltage was applied, offering nanowire filaments of around 300 nanometers. They then heated
the mesh of fibers to ensure superconductors of the correct composition were produced, with the
superconducting material typically being an yttrium barium copper oxide compound.

As superconductors tend to have no electrical resistance at extremely low temperatures, and can therefore
conduct an electric current without loss, the material’s electrons are able to flow unrestricted through the cold
immobilized atomic lattice. With no electrical resistance, when a magnet comes near to a cold superconductor,
it effectively “sees” a mirror image of itself in the superconducting material. If a superconductor and a magnet
are placed in close proximity and cooled using liquid nitrogen, they therefore repel each another and the
magnet levitates above the superconductor. However, if the temperature is too high, frictionless sliding will not
occur.

The material could become a replacement for superconducting powder for coating materials. Although nano or
micro particulate powder always forms bigger clusters, thus losing their properties, in this nanowire network this
is not a concern due to the particularity of the structure. The physicists are now looking to make a wider
application of the synthesis of cuprate superconducting nanowires by electrospinning to investigate how to
decrease the treatment temperature to obtain the superconducting phase, as this could help maintain the
structure of the nanowires.

https://www.labnews.co.uk/news/flexible-superconductor-developed-02-05-2017/

Microscopic view of the nanowire. Credit: Uwe Hartmann

 Flexible superconductor developed
in Nanotechnology, News May 2, 2017 0Add to Bookmarks

Experimental physicists in Germany have developed an ultrathin, flexible nanomaterial with

superconducting properties.
The material is a woven fabric of plastic fibres and high-temperature superconducting nanowires. Many
superconducting materials available are rigid, brittle and dense which makes them heavy – but the new
superconductor is both lightweight and pliable.
Professor Uwe Hartmann, from Saarland University and leader of the research group, said: “Theoretically,
the material can be made to any size. We need fewer resources than are typically required to make
superconducting ceramics, so our superconducting mesh is also cheaper to fabricate.”
The researchers used electrospinning to produce the material – a technique normally used to produce
polymer fibres. Dr Michael Koblischka, one of the researchers in Hartmann’s group, said: “We force a
liquid material through a very fine nozzle known as a spinneret to which a high electrical voltage has
been applied. This produces nanowire filaments that are a thousand times thinner than the diameter of a
human hair, typically about 300 nanometres or less. We then heat the mesh of fibres so that
superconductors of the right composition are created. The superconducting material itself is typically an
yttrium-barium-copper-oxide or similar compound.”
Below -200°C, superconductors conduct electricity without loss, levitate magnets and can screen
magnetic fields. The newly developed nanomaterial has a low weight of 0.05g/cm3 meaning it weighs
about one hundred times less than a conventional superconductor.
Possible uses for the superconductor include a coating to provide low-temperature screening from
electromagnetic fields, use in flexible cables or facilitating frictionless movement. A number of papers on
this research have been published in the following journals:
 Superconductor Science and Technology
 AIP Advances
 IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity
 Materials Research Express 2