LAS Distinguished Chair in the Natural Sciences Russell Hemley’s Research Featured in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
University of Illinois Chicago’s Russell Hemley and researchers from Carnegie Mellon University performed quantum mechanical simulations of superhydrides over a broad range of pressure as well as electrical potentials as found in an electrochemical cell. The results showed that under an electrical potential a number of these materials, including high-temperature superconducting superhydrides, could be stable at much lower pressures.
This approach opens more opportunities for the creation of superhydrides and other materials by combining pressure and electrochemical loading techniques, according to Hemley, UIC professor of physics and chemistry and LAS Distinguished Chair in the Natural Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
The findings could have implications and uses within consumer and industrial sectors.
The research was partially supported by Google, the Department of Energy-National Nuclear Security Administration (DE-NA0003975), and the National Science Foundation (DMR-1933622).