A South Korean academic society said Wednesday the controversial room-temperature superconductor, known as LK-99, is "groundless" as its attempts to replicate its superconductivity have been unsuccessful.
The Korean Society of Superconductivity and Cryogenics published a white paper, saying that eight local laboratories have conducted reproduction studies in accordance with the method proposed by the authors of the LK-99 paper, and none of the results showed superconductivity at room temperature or low temperature.
"We've found no cases that have shown zero resistance and Meissner effect," the society said, referring to the superconducting state with no negative resistance.
Earlier this year, a group of Seoul-based researchers posted papers on an online reprint repository, claiming they have developed a superconductor that functions as a superconductor at ambient pressure and temperatures below 400 K, or 127 C.
Superconductors are one of the most sought-after materials by science and technology researchers, through which electricity can move without encountering any resistance.
The creation of a room-temperature semiconductor would significantly reduce the energy costs of electronics, with a wide variety of everyday applications, from MRI machines to superfast maglev trains. But their use is highly limited because superconductivity can typically only be achieved at very cold temperatures or high pressures.
Since the paper was released, the LK-99 superconductor has won global attention and stirred up controversy over whether it is real.
The international and local science community has remained skeptical about the validity of LK-99, prompting efforts to verify its room-temperature, ambient-pressure capabilities.