High pressure crystal growth of a nickelate with a ScIDre HKZ furnace yields a high-impact publication with remarkable results:
Nature published a study based on the single crystal growth of La₃Ni₂O₇, grown with the floating zone technique at an oxygen pressure of 15 bar. Scientists of the Sun Yat-Sen University and collaborators observed signatures of superconductivity in single crystals of La₃Ni₂O₇ with a maximum T_c of 80 K at pressures between 14.0 - 43.5 GPa. The T_c for this presumably unconventional superconductor is exceptionally high. It is comparable to that of high-T_c cuprates at ambient pressure and surpasses the record T_c of iron-based superconductors under pressure. This is the first experimental report on signatures of superconductivity in both bulk nickelates and the Ruddlesden-Popper phase of nickelates. The results demonstrate that the nickel oxide system is a plausible platform to search for high-Tc superconductors and explore its unconventional high-Tc superconductivity mechanism.

© Sun Yat-Sen University

Professor Wang Meng holding a single crystal of La₃Ni₂O₇; © Sun Yat-Sen University