Comments on Next Big Future: Supercompressed silicon and hydrogen superconducts...

Ok, thanks a lot Brian, now I understand better :)...

2008-03-19T08:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, thanks a lot Brian, now I understand better :)

A fascinating development.

2008-03-18T17:14:00.000-07:00

A fascinating development.

I found the answer in a 3 page pdf on the methods ...

2008-03-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

I found the answer in a 3 page pdf on the methods used for the experiment.

Currently they had to keep it under pressure to maintain the superconductive room temperature result. They need to find some way to keep the stuff a metal and superconducting without pressure. Alloy it with something else or come up with a similar material with different characteristics when pressure is removed.

We have used diamond anvil cell equipped with beveled diamonds and gasket made of cubic BN powder mixed with epoxy. Commercial silane of 99.99% purity (Air Liquide) was loaded trough capillaries into a small cavity surrounding diamonds where it was condensed at ≈112-150 K. All the system was carefully checked with a helium leak detector to be ensured the absolute tightness − a necessary precaution because silane is a pyrophoric substance.

Decomposition can indeed occur when silane was loaded at P<50 GPa and warmed to room temperature. In this case we clearly observed Si at the X-ray diffraction patterns, and the H2 vibron in Raman spectra even not from transparent but metallic sample at higher pressures. Thus, we avoided decomposition by loading silane and performing further measurements at low temperatures below 120-150 K. We warmed the sample up to 300 K only at pressures above 100 GPa.

I do not have access to the full paper.The questio...

2008-03-18T13:23:00.000-07:00

I do not have access to the full paper.

The question is can the room temperature superconducting metal be made "quenchable". That is stable after it becomes a metal at high pressure such that it remains a metal after pressure is removed.
http://books.google.com/books?id=Wvx_S3VuqdcC&pg=PA220&lpg=PA220&dq=%22high+pressure%22+remain+a+metal+after+pressure+is+removed+stable&source=web&ots=cAeFum8XEq&sig=BfVHCrwRUzkul5Atiz_9I69nU5U&hl=en

Also, if they can understand how this material is working, they could design other materials that achieve the same or better performance but are easier to work with.

Yes, That`s the same question I was about to do; a...

2008-03-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, That`s the same question I was about to do; and once the material has been compressed it stays that way? or you need to keep investing energy to keep the material compressed?

What would the challenge of maintaining the pressu...

2008-03-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

What would the challenge of maintaining the pressure be like compared to keeping a material cold? Would the applications be like big steel pipes with very narrow cores of the material inside them?