The new class of materials discovered may eliminate one of the traditional weaknesses of superconductors.

DailyTech has been extensively covering the breakthroughs in superconductors over the last couple years. The class of materials is very promising in that if someday it could replace conductors, it would mean that electricity could travel at virtually no losses to anywhere in the world. This would result in vast energy savings and allow for dramatically faster computers, free of the burden of resistance-produced waste heat.

Standing in the way of the advances are three critical weaknesses of superconductors. The first and most well known is their temperature dependence. Superconductors must be beneath a critical temperature to superconduct. Typically this critical temperature is extremely low, well beneath the means of even standard liquid nitrogen cooling. The critical temperature is somewhat pressure dependent, so extremely high pressure superconductors can superconduct at higher temperatures.
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