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The
Korean Society of Superconductivity and Cryogenics, a group of
experts, said in a statement on Thursday it had asked Quantum
Energy Research Centre to submit samples in order to verify its
researchers' findings of a room-temperature superconductor
material, made public last month on a website showing research
before formal publication.
"There has been a lot of controversy over the authenticity of
the reported results at home and abroad, and other claims are
being added without being peer-reviewed," the group said.
"Based on data from the two archived papers and the video made
public, the materials ... cannot be called room temperature
superconductors at this point," it added.
Superconductors, substances with no electrical resistance, are
considered valuable as they can allow electrical currents to
pass through without losing energy.
But the handful of materials discovered so far only exhibit
superconductivity at extremely cold temperatures or high
pressures, making them impractical for widespread use.
The group said organizations such as Seoul National University,
Sungkyunkwan University, and Pohang University of Science and
Technology would verify the findings if any sample is provided
by Quantum Energy Research Centre, while member organizations
are carrying out their own verification research.
The researchers that made the claim did not respond immediately
to a request for comment.
Shares in the U.S., China and South Korea have gained since the
claim of a practical superconductor was made public, as
investors made early bets despite skepticism among some
scientists.
The global frenzy had been further stoked after a Chinese
university published a video replicating the experiment.
An index tracking Chinese superconductor-related stocks has
surged since late July, when the South Korean researchers
published their papers, rising as much as 22%, though it gave up
a large chunk of those gains on Thursday.
Among these stocks were Jiangsu Etern Co and Western
Superconducting Technologies which closed down 9.7% and 8.13%
respectively on Thursday.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee and Brenda Goh; Editing by Mark Potter)
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