Low-melting-point metal routes toward making superconductors

Abstract

Abstract

We conceive low-melting-point metal derived superconductors (LMDSs) as a unified paradigm that enables the rapid fabrication of superconducting materials under near-ambient conditions through introducing low-melting-point metals (LMs) as dynamic metallic reaction media. In this framework, LMs serve as solvents, dopant reservoirs, interfacial mediators, and structural templates that lower the barrier to forming superconducting-relevant material states. This paradigm integrates LM-enabled pathways for producing bulk alloys, printed films, two-dimensional confined phases, interconnect geometries, and nanodroplets. Their liquid-state processability enables near-room-temperature patterning, reconfiguration, and compositional control, whereas superconducting functionality is established in cooled LM-derived states such as solidified alloys, doped films, amorphous/glassy phases, nanoconfined structures, and interfacially reconstructed layers, of which only solid-state forms have been reported to superconduct so far. We further outline a data-driven LM materials genome that unifies composition, structure, ground-state quantities, interaction parameters, and macroscopic properties to accelerate predictive modeling and inverse design of LMDS. Beyond processing advantages, LMs provide an experimental platform for examining superconductivity in amorphous, nanoconfined, and dynamically disordered states and for revisiting the long-standing question of whether true superconductivity can exist in the liquid state. This perspective positions LMs as a fertile and energy-efficient route toward reconfigurable and potentially transformative superconducting technologies.