The Hope Around the Miracle Room-Temperature Superconductor Candidate LK-99 Begins To Crumble

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The problem with buzzword investing is that it rarely delivers on longer time horizons, barring occasional flukes. With the hype around LK-99 now perched on a downward spiral, the stocks that had recorded remarkable gains in recent weeks on the back of the manic effervescence around the room-temperature superconductor candidate are now due a brutal reality check.

As a refresher, LK-99 is a gray-black compound of lead, copper, phosphorus, and oxygen, formally known as copper-substituted lead phosphate apatite. In late July, a group of researchers hailing from Korea University claimed that the compound exhibited superconductivity at ambient temperature and pressure, owing to structural shrinkage and the corresponding creation of “superconducting quantum wells (SQWs)” as copper cations substitute lead cations within the insulating structure of lead phosphate apatite.

While social media soon became rife with multiple replication videos that showed LK-99 responding to the repellant force of a magnet, almost none were able to conclusively demonstrate the signature “magnetic flux fixation effect,” where a superconductor hovers over a magnet. Last week, a Chinese researcher did claim success in this regard but soon diluted his original assertions with a number of caveats.

I expected that interest in LK-99 would just die a slow death after no one could replicate it; rarely is a smoking gun found that explains the spurious observations.

But in this case it seems we have a full coroner's report!https://t.co/rPLbzXdrgV

— Prof. Michael S Fuhrer (@MichaelSFuhrer) August 9, 2023

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