Points

[1] Repeatedly switches between an insulator and a superconductor with a single electric switch

[2] Safe design that does not need to worry about liquid leakage with all-solid-state elements that do not use electrolytes.

[3] This opens up the possibility of new device applications using superconductors.

Abstract

A research group led by Postdoctoral Fellow Zhang Xi and Professor Hiromichi Ohta of Research Institute for Electronic Science, Hokkaido University has succeeded in repeatedly switching an insulator to a superconductor with a single electric switch. It is known that the conductivity of yttrium-barium-copper composite oxide, which is known as a high-temperature superconductor, changes greatly depending on the oxygen content, from insulators to superconductors. In recent years, a method of electrically adjusting the oxygen content has been proposed as a method of switching between an insulator and a superconductor. However, since an electrolytic solution is used, there is an application problem that the device must be sealed so that the liquid does not leak. Therefore, in this study, the oxygen content was electrically changed by using a solid electrolyte in the air. As a result, we succeeded in repeatedly switching from insulators to high-temperature superconductors. Since no electrolytic solution is used, there is no concern about liquid leakage, and this method is truly suitable for the device application. It is expected to be applied to new devices using high-temperature superconductors. The results of this research were published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, published on Thursday, November 4, 2021.

Paper

Xi Zhang*, Gowoon Kim, Qian Yang, Jiake Wei, Bin Feng, Yuichi Ikuhara, and Hiromichi Ohta*, “Solid-State Electrochemical Switch of Superconductor-Metal-Insulators”, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 13, 54204-54209 (2021). (November 4, 2021) (DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c17014)