Max Plank Institute and University of Saskatchewan researchers have fabricated a room-temperature superconducting material that does not require cooling.

The new silicon-hydrogen compound is super-compressed, potentially allowing it to be used without super-cooling the material, as is necessary for conventional superconductors.

Researchers have speculated for years that hydrogen under enough pressure would superconduct at room temperature, but have been unable to achieve the necessary compression. The Canadian and German researchers’ success came from adding hydrogen to a compound with silicon that reduced the amount of compression needed to achieve superconductivity.