The Controversy Surrounding LK-99: Room-Temperature Superconductor or False Hope?

written by 20419 Lim Hyun Seo

LK-99 (from the Lee-Kim 1999 research) from the Quantum Energy Research Center, which acts as a room-temperature superconductor continues to be a hot topic in Korea and also around the world.

LK-99 is a substance that Korean scientists, Lee Suk Bae and Kim Ji Hoon, have been continuously researching since 1999. On July 26th, 2023, a video that showed the substance’s superconductivity was spread on Reddit and began to attract people’s attention. In that video, a LK-99 sample was floating on a magnet, and when the scientist pushed it with a pen, it reacted.

However, this video cannot prove that LK-99 is a superconductor because the Meissner effect, which has to appear in every superconductor, is not observed. But the emergence of a room-temperature/atmospheric pressure superconductor would obviously affect the scientific community, even if the basis for superconductor is insufficient, it received great attention.

By the way, in Nature, a world-renowned scientific journal, LK-99 is not a superconductor. Following this, several prominent journals and studies continue to provide evidence that LK-99 cannot be a superconductor. However, the Quantum Energy Research Center continues to insist that LK-99 is a superconductor, so we have to watch this for a long time.

Is LK-99 a Superconductor?

A study by researchers in the U.S. and Europe combined experimental and theoretical evidence to show how the structure of LK-99 makes superconductivity impracticable. Other experimenters synthesized and studied pure samples of LK-99, erasing doubts about the structure of the material and identifying it as an insulator in pure form, not a superconductor. There has been no further evidence from the Quantum Energy Research Center that can prove that LK-99 is a superconductor.

According to Nature, the impurities in LK-99, especially copper sulfide, decreased its electrical resistance, which made it act like a superconductor in some ways. It also made LK-99 partially float on the surface of a magnet. This made people think it was a superconductor, but it doubts remain.

Further Hopes

Dreamers who hope for room-temperature superconductors think it would increase the efficiency of global energy production, speed up progress on quantum computers, or the era of superfast transport. A room-temperature superconductor would make it much cheaper.

Also room temperature superconductors could open up new possibilities in scientific research, allowing for stronger magnetic fields and more powerful particle accelerators, aiding our understanding of the universe.