Seeking room-temperature superconductivity with exciton condensate in van der Waals heterostructures

Achieving superconductivity in ambient conditions using exciton condensates in van der Waals heterostructures. Room temperature superconductors (SC) – materials with zero resistivity appearing at or above 0 °C (critical temperature Tc > 273.15 K) - would help to solve the world’s energy problems by allowing lossless power transmission and better motors and generators, allow for faster computers, and enable many more technological applications. A recent report describes a carbon sulfur hydride material with a Tc of 15 °C, but only at very high pressures > 260 GPa (≈ 2 /3 of the pressure of the Earth’s core) which limits practical applications. Here I propose to use the long lifetime and strong binding of exciton condensates in van der Waals heterostructures (vdWh), where the crystalline layers are stacked at a specific rotation angle to each other, a so-called “twist”, to achieve a superconducting state in ambient conditions.