A century ago, scientists discovered the existence of superconductivity — a property of certain materials, which at extremely low temperatures exhibit no resistance or loss when conducting energy.
The most commonly-used materials for conductors in electric and electronic appliances today have some resistivity, meaning there is always a degree of loss in the transmission of energy. This could change with the use of superconductors.
Developing superconductors could lead to new applications for next-generation electronic devices, including supercomputers, new ways to power magnetic levitation trains, and even allow us to do away with batteries.
Given their potential, there is now a global research race into superconductors — and Brazilians are contributing to it.
A research project based at the University of Campinas (Unicamp) and supported by the São Paulo State Research Foundation (FAPESP) and the FAPESP-sponsored Center for Development of Functional Materials (CDMF) is searching for new ways to reach, modify, or...