I-Corps: Electrodeposited Superconductor Coatings

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力包括能够广泛地用具有超导涂层的材料替代超导材料。超导体有望实现更高效的输电线路、更好的电动机和高速量子计算，但迄今为止，材料制造的成本和可扩展性的缺乏已被证明是一个问题。这种替代涂层将有助于克服在交通、能源和量子计算领域实施这些材料的障碍，从而加速这些领域的技术发展。该项目的成功还将降低使用超导磁体的先进医疗设备（如MRI）的障碍，并改善医疗保健结果。该I-Corps项目进一步开发了用于制造超导涂层和其他金属或合金薄膜涂层的电化学工艺。该技术的关键创新在于使用新型水性电解质来抑制水性电解质中水和质子的活性，同时保持操作的简易性、该方法与当前使用的方法的兼容性以及环境友好性。这种抑制直接导致工艺过程中的能量节省，并且由于避免了那些不期望的反应的副产物的掺入，膜的形态得到显著改善。更重要的是，在比材料本身更高的温度下观察到了从这种低温工艺中沉积的薄膜的超导性，并且这种增加的临界温度显示出对器件制造中使用的高温工艺的改进的稳定性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估而被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project includes enabling wide spreading replacement of superconducting materials with materials with a superconductive coating. Superconductors have the promise of enabling vastly more efficient power transmission lines, better electric motors, and high-speed quantum computing, however the expense and lack of scalability in the fabrication of the materials has thus far proven problematic. This replacement with superconductive coatings will help overcome obstacles to implementing these materials in the transportation, energy, and quantum computing fields, thus accelerating technological development in these areas. The success of this project will also lower the barriers for advanced medical equipment enabled by superconducting magnets such as MRI and improve the healthcare outcomes.This I-Corps project further develops an electrochemical process for the fabrication of superconducting coatings and other metal or alloy thin film coatings. The key innovation in this technology is the use of a new type of aqueous electrolyte to suppress the activity of water and proton in an aqueous electrolyte, while maintaining the ease of operation, compatibility of the process with current processes in use, as well as the environmental friendliness. This suppression directly results in an energy savings during the process and the morphology of films is significantly improved as the incorporation of the byproduct of those undesired reactions are avoided. More importantly, the superconductivity of the film deposited from this low temperature process was observed at a higher temperature than the material itself and this increased critical temperature has shown an improved stability against high temperature processing used in device fabrication.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.