Story perspectives

Penn State Breakthrough: Predicting High-Temperature Superconductors

10/26/2025

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Summary

Story summary

Penn State researchers, led by Zi-Kui Liu, developed a method to predict superconductors and identify materials that could conduct electricity without resistance at elevated temperatures.
They used density functional theory and zentropy theory to relate electron behavior across normal and superconducting materials.
The U.S. Department of Energy supports the work and it could transform energy transmission by enabling high-temperature superconductors.
Next steps involve testing materials from a database to identify candidates.

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Story summary

Penn State researchers, led by Zi-Kui Liu, developed a method to predict superconductors and identify materials that could conduct electricity without resistance at elevated temperatures.
They used density functional theory and zentropy theory to relate electron behavior across normal and superconducting materials.
The U.S. Department of Energy supports the work and it could transform energy transmission by enabling high-temperature superconductors.
Next steps involve testing materials from a database to identify candidates.