Domestic Academia Begins LK-99 Production... "Paper Revisions and Patent Office Are Meaningless"

The Korean Society of Superconductivity and Cryogenics Obtained Lead Sulfate Last Weekend
Sample Preparation Took 2 Weeks, Analysis 1 Week... Conclusion Expected Early September
Nature Concludes "Not a Superconductor"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

As the international scientific community has effectively concluded that 'LK-99,' developed by a domestic venture, is not a room-temperature ambient-pressure superconductor, it has been confirmed that the Korean academic community has completed material procurement and has begun full-scale verification, including sample production. The academic community once again emphasized caution regarding the various claims flooding social networking services (SNS).

According to the Korean Society of Superconductivity and Cryogenics on the 17th, six domestic laboratories participating in the reproduction and verification of LK-99 succeeded in obtaining lead sulfate last weekend and have started full-scale sample production this week. Accordingly, verification results of LK-99 from the domestic academic community are expected as early as the beginning of next month.

The society reported that lead sulfate, which was stored in a domestic laboratory, was urgently provided. The six laboratories involved in the reproduction work, including Kyung Hee University, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul National University, and Pohang University of Science and Technology, began sample production and verification this week following the recipe in the paper posted last month on the preprint site arXiv by the Quantum Energy Research Institute, which developed LK-99. LK-99 is made from lead, phosphorus, and sulfate. Lead oxide and lead sulfate are mixed and heated at 725 degrees Celsius for 24 hours to produce lead sulfate oxide. Then copper and phosphorus are mixed and heated at 550 degrees Celsius for 48 hours to produce copper phosphide. Afterward, lead sulfate oxide and copper phosphide are mixed in a 1:1 ratio and baked at 925 degrees Celsius for 5 to 20 hours in a high vacuum chamber to make LK-99. The entire process takes 53 to 68 hours. Since the controversy surrounding LK-99 spread domestically and internationally after the 25th of last month, the domestic academic community formed a verification committee on the 2nd and began reproduction and verification. However, the work was delayed because the basic raw material, lead sulfate, could not be obtained.

The society estimates that sample production will generally take about two weeks, and characteristic measurements will take about 7 to 10 days. If superconductivity is confirmed, additional compositional and structural analyses will be conducted. This means that verification results on the room-temperature ambient-pressure superconductivity of LK-99 from the domestic academic community will be available in about 2 to 3 weeks. Verification items include electrical resistance, magnetic properties, phase transition characteristics, and response to external magnetic fields, which are characteristics of superconductors. Superconductors have electrical resistance close to zero and exhibit perfect diamagnetism at the critical temperature. Also, the Meissner effect, where an opposing magnetic field is formed inside the object repelling external magnetic fields and the position is fixed, and the flux pinning phenomenon are essential elements.

The Quantum Energy Research Institute, which sparked the LK-99 controversy, reportedly revised part of the paper posted on arXiv on the 11th, but the academic community evaluates it as "not significant." Choi Kyung-dal, president of the Korean Society of Superconductivity and Cryogenics, said in a phone interview with Asia Economy on the same day, "Experts reviewed the paper and confirmed that the revision only added the one-dimensional BR-BCS theory, which is the theoretical background of the superconducting phenomenon, so there is no major change."

President Choi also reiterated the call for caution regarding unverified claims circulating recently on SNS and YouTube videos. He said, "Claims that have not been verified through papers cannot be trusted," pointing out, "There are unverified claims such as those by some venture entrepreneurs or videos claiming successful reproduction at foreign universities." Regarding the claim that the data submitted when the institute applied for a patent last year contains evidence explaining the superconducting properties, he added, "An Australian scholar criticized, 'If it is true that the evidence was not included in the paper but only in the patent documents, that would also be fraud.'"

Meanwhile, the international scientific community's verification appears to be concluding as "groundless." The international academic journal Nature reported on the 16th (local time) about the success of the Max Planck Institute in Germany in producing pure crystals of LK-99 and introduced the results of reproduction and verification so far. The Max Planck Institute stated that the pure crystals of LK-99 they produced and tested were insulators, making it difficult to experiment on electrical conductivity. Nature analyzed, "It seems that LK-99 appeared to exhibit superconductivity due to the action of the impurity copper sulfide, according to results from various research groups."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.