EAGER: SUPER: Alkane-based molecular synthesis and quantum sensing of light & warm superconductors

EAGER：SUPER：基于烷烃的分子合成和光的量子传感

• 批准号: 2132753
• 负责人: Peter Pauzauskie
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2132753&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; SUPER; Alkane; based; molecular

Non-technical SummarySuperconductors have the potential to transform our society’s future transportation and electricity distribution networks based on their unique ability to conduct electricity without loss due to electrical resistance. Magnetically-levitated trains could transport passengers and cargo efficiently without friction. Superconducting power transmission lines could help lower the overall carbon budgets of advanced, industrialized economies. Normally, materials show superconducting behavior only at low temperatures, well below the freezing point of water. One grand challenge in the field of superconductivity is to discover materials that have superconducting properties at room temperature. In the past decade tremendous progress has been made in demonstrating that metallic and non-metallic materials can show superconductivity had high temperatures (~300K) when they are compressed to pressures on the order of 100,000 atmospheres. With this project, supported by Division of Materials Research, Professor Peter Pauzauskie and his research group at the University of Washington will develop new chemical materials synthesis and processing methods to make high-temperature superconductors from non-metallic elements (carbon, hydrogen, sulfur) that could also maintain their superconducting properties at atmospheric pressure. Materials will be synthesized based on the use of molecular alkane precursors exposed to large pressures within a diamond anvil cell. Nitrogen impurities within the diamond anvils will be used to detect the transition to a superconducting state based on optically detected magnetic resonance. The atomic microstructure of the materials recovered from high pressure will be characterized using isotopically sensitive microscopy.Technical SummaryIn the past 10 years tremendous progress has been made in the discovery of materials at high pressure that exhibit a superconducting phase transition at warm temperatures based on binary metal-hydride and ternary non-metallic hydrogenated materials. If the pressure required to observe superconductivity could be lowered to atmospheric pressure, then these materials would have the potential to revolutionize the nation’s public transportation networks, the nation’s electrical energy distribution grid, and also national synchrotron-based scientific user facilities. Currently there is no fundamental scientific knowledge to realize materials capable of demonstrating superconductivity at both 1) room temperature and 2) atmospheric pressure. Recently room-temperature superconductivity has been reported at high (GPa) pressures for hydrogenated carbon sulfide (HCS) materials, however the atomistic microstructure of these materials remains a mystery. This project, supported by the Division of Materials Research, will test the high-risk, high-reward hypothesis that saturated molecular alkanes (CnX2n+2, X = H, D) can be used to create low-cost HCS room temperature superconductors without the need for molecular hydrogen. The central hypothesis that will be tested experimentally is that molecular materials can serve as a hydrogen source that will enable the formation of hydrogen-carbon-sulfur room temperature superconductors at atmospheric pressure through the atomically precise doping of hydrogen within high-surface-area, carbonaceous starting materials. This hypothesis will be tested with a unique experimental design based on 1) atomically precise, molecular alkane-based delivery of hydrogen, 2) high-pressure, high-temperature materials synthesis, 3) in situ quantum sensing of superconducting phase transitions based on optically detected magnetic resonance, and 4) ex situ atom probe tomography for quantitative microstructural characterization of recovered product materials.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.

非技术概述超导体具有改变我们社会未来的交通和配电网络的潜力，这是基于它们独特的导电能力，而不会因电阻而损失。 磁悬浮列车可以有效地运送乘客和货物，而不会产生摩擦。 超导输电线路可以帮助降低发达工业化经济体的总体碳预算。 通常情况下，材料仅在低温下才表现出超导行为，远低于水的冰点。 超导领域的一个重大挑战是发现在室温下具有超导特性的材料。 在过去的十年中，在证明金属和非金属材料可以在高温（~ 300 K）下显示超导性方面取得了巨大的进展，当它们被压缩到100，000个大气压的压力时。 在材料研究部的支持下，华盛顿大学的Peter Pauzauskie教授和他的研究小组将开发新的化学材料合成和加工方法，从非金属元素（碳，氢，硫）中制造高温超导体，这些超导体也可以在大气压下保持其超导特性。 材料的合成将基于使用暴露于金刚石砧单元内的大压力的分子烷烃前体。 金刚石砧内的氮杂质将用于基于光学检测的磁共振来检测向超导状态的转变。 从高压中回收的材料的原子微观结构将使用同位素敏感的microscopic.Technical SummaryIn过去的10年中，在发现基于二元金属氢化物和三元非金属氢化材料在高温下表现出超导相变的高压材料方面取得了巨大进展。 如果观察超导性所需的压力可以降低到大气压，那么这些材料将有可能彻底改变国家的公共交通网络，国家的电力分配网，以及国家基于同步加速器的科学用户设施。 目前还没有基础科学知识来实现能够在1）室温和2）大气压下表现出超导性的材料。 近年来，氢化硫化碳（HCS）材料在高压（GPa）下具有室温超导性，但其原子结构仍是一个谜。 该项目由材料研究部门支持，将测试高风险、高回报的假设，即饱和分子烷烃（CnX 2n +2，X = H，D）可用于制造低成本HCS室温超导体，而不需要分子氢。将通过实验测试的中心假设是，分子材料可以作为氢源，通过在高表面积的碳质起始材料中原子级精确掺杂氢，在大气压下形成氢-碳-硫室温超导体。 这一假设将通过一个独特的实验设计进行测试，该实验设计基于1）原子级精确的、基于分子烷烃的氢输送，2）高压、高温材料合成，3）基于光学检测的磁共振的超导相变的原位量子传感，和4）非原位原子探针层析成像技术，用于回收产品材料的定量微观结构表征。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，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，被认为值得支持。