{
  "id": 185395,
  "title": "Researchers make air-stable, ultrathin superconductors, for more scalable quantum devices",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/05/researchers-make-air-stable-ultrathin-superconductors-for-more-185395",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-08-05T15:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "MIT News Research",
    "slug": "mit-news-research",
    "url": "https://news.mit.edu/2026/researchers-make-air-stable-ultrathin-superconductors-more-scalable-quantum-devices-0805"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Researchers from MIT and other institutions have developed a method to produce air-stable, ultrathin superconductors, which could lead to more compact, scalable, and efficient quantum devices. Superconductors are materials that can conduct electricity without resistance, a crucial property for quantum devices. However, traditional superconductors degrade rapidly when exposed to air, making them difficult to study and manufacture.\n\nThe researchers grew the superconducting material, niobium diselenide, beneath a protective layer of graphene, an atomically thin carbon-based material. The graphene layer shields the fragile superconductor from oxidation, allowing it to grow in a smooth layer over a large wafer-scale area. This approach overcomes the challenges associated with traditional growth methods, which yield small flakes and struggle to achieve uniform monolayer thickness.\n\nThe air-stable superconductor was integrated into a superconducting microwave circuit, where it maintained its superconducting properties and exhibited high kinetic inductance. Kinetic inductance is a desirable trait in many quantum devices, as it allows for the storage of inductive energy in a small area. The researchers' breakthrough could enable the miniaturization of superconducting quantum computing hardware and the development of ultrasensitive quantum detectors for various applications, such as communications and cosmology.\n\nCo-lead author Xudong Sheldon Zheng, an MIT graduate student, emphasized the potential impact of this discovery, stating that emerging superconductors with a monolayer thickness now have the opportunity to be studied, utilized, and applied in practical scenarios. The research findings were published in the journal Nature.",
  "summary": "A new technique produces wafer-scale samples, overcoming a major roadblock to using these materials in quantum technologies.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "MIT News Research",
        "title": "Researchers make air-stable, ultrathin superconductors, for more scalable quantum devices",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/05/researchers-make-air-stable-ultrathin-superconductors-for-more",
        "published": "2026-08-05T15:00:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}