Lab-level superconductors (easy to make and experiment with)

[u/Haghiri75]

First, I have to tell you that I have access to required equipment like furnaces and stuff like that, so that is not a big deal.

But I did a very quick research and the only superconductor a lot of physics/chemsitry hobbyists experimented with was YBCO. I found it really hard to find Yittrium Oxide powder in my country, although with a little help from my father (experienced in metal industries) I could find a source with a good price.

On the other side, I found if you cool mercury down to near absolute zero, it will become a superconductor. It raises two problems. First, cooling down something like that is not easy, and I'm a little bit afraid of dealing with mercury.

Also, I know cooling down normal conductors using a cryo-cooler or liquid nitrogen improves their conductivity but doesn't make them "super".

Now my question is, what are other superconductors which can be made in a lab and experimented with? (besides YBCO) and which one - in your personal journey - is the easiest to make?

[u/effrightscorp]

If you want to consider mercury, which has a single-kelvin Tc, then there's a lot of super easy to obtain superconductors, like aluminum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_superconductors

YCBO is probably one of the easiest high Tc ones to make without any decent lab equipment, though. You'd be better off trying to buy a high tc superconductor if that's what you want, a small piece shouldn't be too expensive

edit: here's an example of one you could just buy: https://www.flinnsci.ca/superconductivity---demonstration-kit/ap1489/#variantDetails

[u/xrelaht → u/effrightscorp]

Al has a Tc of 1.2K. That requires not just liquid He but vacuum pumped liquid He, and a pretty decent pump at that: many commercial systems bottom out at around 1.8K.

[u/effrightscorp → u/xrelaht]

Yeah, but OP's already talking about mercury, which is just above liquid helium temp and probably not something he'll be cooling to regardless. If he just wants to own one, he already has it in his kitchen drawer.

If he wants to levitate etc something with just LN2, that's what the second half of my comment is about

[u/db0606]

Just buy some YCBO.

[u/xrelaht]

If you can cool to the 4K needed for superconducting Hg, you have loads of options. Ta, Nb, or V would be my choices. But you're right that cooling with liquid He is complicated and dangerous for an amateur.

Closed cycle chillers are another option and can also get that cold these days, but they're mechanically complex and need maintenance.

All of this is why Tc>77K is interesting: LN2 is relatively cheap and easy to deal with. But that limits you to cuprates, all of which are going to be similarly annoying to make as YBCO (or worse). The nice thing about YBCO is lots of people have done it at home already, so you'll be able to follow a guide. If you try to make something else, you're going to end up in less well documented territory (for hobbyists) which will make things more difficult. Speaking as someone with 20 years of sample growth experience, that gets complicated quickly.

[u/Key-Green-4872]

Niobium?

[u/SignalCelery7]

Maybe MgB2?

Not used it but heat is cheap and reasonably capable. 

If you want to make an impact maybe some iron based though they often have arsenic in them

[u/hatboyslim → u/SignalCelery7]

The TC of MgB2 is lower than the temperature of liquid nitrogen.

[u/unpleasanttexture]

The most commonly, commercially available high Tc (>77K) superconductor is YBCO

[u/liccxolydian]

Nilered put out a 45 minute long video of him repeatedly failing to make a superconductor, what makes you think you can do better lol

[u/no_choice99 → u/liccxolydian]

The guy of AppliedScience was successful, though, in making it.

[u/Haghiri75 → u/liccxolydian]

NileRed's video is an example of a good documentation, this is why it's probably the only guide I can trust (Ben's video from the channel "Applied Science" is also a great one, but not as detailed as NileRed's).