<i>Not that often do I get the chance to talk about science that comes from my country – Czech Republic. But now our scientists built a very nontraditional superconductor that resembles a strudel.</i>

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While the research of superconductivity is somewhat old lately we hear about it more often and even the mass media sometimes talk about it. And nobody should be surprised about it as they are truly amazing pieces of technology.

A superconductor is a material that conducts electricity without any resistance – this means no energy is wasted into heat. If superconductors were as readily available as copper the technological level of humanity would be quite different.

<h3>Superconductors + Cold = Happiness</h3>

Superconductors would allow us to use much more effective and smaller generators or even the creation of a hypothetical electric grid that would not require high voltage because of no losses in the conductor itself and it could also work without a network of transformers.

Another chapter in the book of where we would be with cheap superconductors is electronics. A conductor with no resistance would allow us to transfer signals on practically limitless distances. Another chapter would be transportation. Instead of using diesel or electric trains you would go with a maglev (magnetic-levitation) train.

These and many more dreams have a slight problem. The making of superconductive material. One of the key components is extremely low temperatures. But scientists are working hard and trying to make a material that would be superconductive at as high temperature possible. Room temperature is currently unobtainable but we are slowly getting closer.

<h3>Czech Five-Atom Layers</h3>

An international European team that has Czech scientists from the Masarykova Universita, the Zápodočeská Universita v Plzeň and the CEITEC Institute Vysokého Učení Technického as its backbone is also looking into superconductors.

In cooperation with experts from Germany and Austria, they studied the superconductivity of bismuth telluride with a bit of manganese added in. It was precisely manganese that changed the material's structure thanks to its magnetic properties. This makes it durable against external effects and easier to regulate. Such a material is characteristic for its structure that sort of looks like puff pastry. It is organized into layers of 5 or 7 atoms.

<h3>Exotic Electron States On The Surface</h3>
The measurements took place in several laboratories including one in the Czech Republic. There the scientists used one of the most powerful microscopes in the world – TITAN that allowed them to directly observe the atomic structure of the material.

So far, the results aren't that amazing to be honest. Their technology still requires insanely low temperatures – at the moment they checked the superconductivity at only around 10° Kelvin. That is still a bit lower than the -2° Celsius that we have in the Czech Republic currently.

<h4>Sources:</h4>
* https://www.ceitec.eu/scientists-are-looking-for-materials-for-wireless-signal-transmission/t10212
* https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1826-7

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