Lindsay
France/University Photography
Group leader
Ulrich Wiesner, right, the Spencer T. Olin Professor of Engineering,
and graduate
student and co-lead author Peter Beaucage, second from right, hold models
of the
self-assembled gyroid superconductor the group created. Also pictured are
Bruce van Dover,
left, professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering,
and Sol Gruner,
the John L. Wetherill Professor of Physics.
(January 30, 2016) Building
on nearly two decades’ worth of research, a multidisciplinary team at Cornell
has blazed a new trail by creating a self-assembled, three-dimensional gyroidal
superconductor.
Ulrich Wiesner, the Spencer T. Olin Professor of
Engineering, led the group, which included researchers in engineering,
chemistry and physics.
The group’s findings are detailed in a paper published in
Science Advances, Jan. 29.
Wiesner said it’s the first time a superconductor, in this
case niobium nitride (NbN), has self-assembled into a porous, 3-D gyroidal
structure. The gyroid is a complex cubic structure based on a surface that
divides space into two separate volumes that are interpenetrating and contain
various spirals. Pores and the superconducting material have structural
dimensions of only around 10 nanometers, which could lead to entirely novel
property profiles of superconductors.
Superconductivity for practical uses, such as in magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) scanners and fusion reactors, is only possible at near
absolute zero (-459.67 degrees below zero), although recent experimentation has
yielded superconducting at a comparatively balmy 94 degrees below zero.
“There’s this effort in research to get superconducting at
higher temperatures, so that you don’t have to cool anymore,” Wiesner said.
“That would revolutionize everything. There’s a huge impetus to get that.”
Superconductivity, in which electrons flow without
resistance and the resultant energy-sapping heat, is still an expensive
proposition. MRIs use superconducting magnets, but the magnets constantly have
to be cooled, usually with a combination of liquid helium and nitrogen.