Superconductor: Materials that conduct electricity with no resistance

This means that, unlike the more familiar conductors such as copper or steel, a superconductor can carry a current indefinitely without losing any energy. They also have several other very important properties, such as the fact that no magnetic field can exist within a superconductor.

Superconductors already have drastically changed the world of medicine with the advent of MRI machines, which have meant a reduction in exploratory surgery. Power utilities, electronics companies, the military, transportation, and theoretical physics have all benefited strongly from the discovery of these materials.

The first discovery of a superconductive material took place in 1911 when a Dutch scientist named Heike Kammerlingh Onnes, who was also the first person to liquefy helium, and reached temperatures as low as 1.7 kelvin (K).

In the 1960s, two unrelated discoveries made closely together ushered in a new era in which practical superconducting devices were developed and commercialized: one was the discrovery of NbTi superconductor, which provided the first material for the practical manufacture of superconducting wire and shaped components; the second was the Josephson junction, which continues to provide the basis for a variety of unique electronic devices. At Saint Jean Carbon we believe the answer is in the graphene.

Harnessing Nanostructured Materials to Achieve Superconductivity