Research out of Berkeley, 1 Aug 2023: theoretical analysis suggests high-Tc superconductors from apatite possible, points to synthesis challenges.
> Finally, the calculations presented here suggest that
Cu substitution on the appropriate (Pb(1)) site displays
many key characteristics for high-TC superconductivity,
namely a particularly flat isolated d-manifold, and the
potential presence of fluctuating magnetism, charge and
phonons. However, substitution on the other Pb(2) does
not appear to have such sought-after properties, despite
being the lower-energy substitution site. This result hints
to the synthesis challenge in obtaining Cu substituted on
the appropriate site for obtaining a bulk superconducting
sample.
Edit: Layperson summary from https://twitter.com/Andercot/status/1686215574177841152. It's crazy for the sim to not only be favorable towards SC, but also showing results that align with what the researchers proposed and what the replicators are experiencing (difficulty in synthesis).
> The simulations modeled what the original Korean authors proposed was happening to their material - where copper atoms were percolating into a crystal structure and replacing lead atoms, causing the crystal to strain slightly and contract by 0.5%. This unique structure was proposed to allow this amazing property.
> Lastly, these interesting conduction pathways only form when the copper atom percolates into the less likely location in the crystal lattice, or the 'higher energy' binding site. This means the material would be difficult to synthesize since only a small fraction of crystal gets its copper in just the right location.
Some days I wish I could just run DFT on everything and have it spit out the ones with "interesting" results and then patent those. Unfortunately, this is not feasible (computationally) nor likely to produce very many true positives.
I wonder if you could troll theorists into doing simulations of just about any substance by publishing convincing-looking papers in arxiv. Scratch that: we know it's possible.
Brute forcing the space of all chemicals isn't practical, so just do what humans do, generate plausible candidates with a neural net and then check with DFT.
The patent system in its current form isn't going to survive the next few decades, on this I agree. First step is probably going to be chopping down the patent length from its current 15 year term.
I don't think these results will replicate and it's still unclear whether the material has any useful properties. But I could be wrong. The theory sims say nothing; it's a bunch of noise right now.
> Finally, the calculations presented here suggest that Cu substitution on the appropriate (Pb(1)) site displays many key characteristics for high-TC superconductivity, namely a particularly flat isolated d-manifold, and the potential presence of fluctuating magnetism, charge and phonons. However, substitution on the other Pb(2) does not appear to have such sought-after properties, despite being the lower-energy substitution site. This result hints to the synthesis challenge in obtaining Cu substituted on the appropriate site for obtaining a bulk superconducting sample.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.16892
Edit: Layperson summary from https://twitter.com/Andercot/status/1686215574177841152. It's crazy for the sim to not only be favorable towards SC, but also showing results that align with what the researchers proposed and what the replicators are experiencing (difficulty in synthesis).
> The simulations modeled what the original Korean authors proposed was happening to their material - where copper atoms were percolating into a crystal structure and replacing lead atoms, causing the crystal to strain slightly and contract by 0.5%. This unique structure was proposed to allow this amazing property.
> Lastly, these interesting conduction pathways only form when the copper atom percolates into the less likely location in the crystal lattice, or the 'higher energy' binding site. This means the material would be difficult to synthesize since only a small fraction of crystal gets its copper in just the right location.