Can we achieve room-temperature superconductivity at ambient pressure?

Superconductors that operate at room temperature would revolutionise power transmission, magnetic resonance imaging and quantum computing. Hydrogen-rich hydrides have reached near-room-temperature critical temperatures but only under extreme pressures.

Whether ambient-pressure room-temperature superconductivity is achievable in any material — and what the right chemistry would be — is one of the most contested questions in materials chemistry.