Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory in collaboration with several European institutions have found that titanium nitride chilled to near absolute zero converts to a superinsulator, with resistance suddenly increased by a factor of 100,000.

Superinsulators could eventually find their way into a number of products, including circuits, sensors and battery shields. Scientists could eventually form superinsulators that would encapsulate superconducting wires, creating an optimally efficient electrical pathway with almost no energy lost as heat. A miniature version of these superinsulated superconducting wires could find their way into more efficient electrical circuits.