Bridging Superconductors with UN Development Goals: Perspectives and Applications

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential of superconductors to contribute to UN Sustainable Development Goals through applications in energy, healthcare, transportation, and environmental monitoring, highlighting recent advances and future prospects.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview linking ceramic superconductors with sustainable development and discusses innovative applications across various sectors.

Findings

Superconductors can improve energy efficiency in power transmission.

Superconducting technologies enhance medical imaging and quantum computing.

Magnetic levitation offers zero-emission transportation solutions.

Abstract

Superconductors exhibit remarkable properties such as zero resistivity and diamagnetism at the boiling temperature of liquid hydrogen (20 K) and even aboven the boiling temperature of liquid nitrogen (77 K), making them promising candidates for various applications including electrical engines, energy generation, storage, and high-tech devices like single photon detectors. In this overview, we explore the correlation between ceramic superconductors and the United Nations (UN) Development Goals, emphasizing their potential impact on sustainable development. Through bibliometric analysis, we underscore the significance of ceramic superconductors in addressing global challenges outlined by the UN. Additionally, we discuss the application of supermagnets and second-generation tapes in healthcare systems, particularly in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) devices for diagnostic imaging. Electric superconducting motors offer a clean alternative to highly polluting diesel engines in maritime transportation and superconducting wires/cables enable effective transport of energy on large scale as well as in industrial structures. Magnetic levitation technology holds promise for developing zero-emission public transportation systems, and magnetic separation with strong magnets will contribute to solve the microplastic pollution. The combination of superconductivity with the planned hydrogen economy further offers new possibilities to bring superconductivity to common applications. At the nanoscale, superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) enable real-time monitoring of environmental health, exemplified by applications in plant physiology, and superconducting qubits provide the best-engineered structures for quantum computers. However it is still crordwork to works with superconductors UN develepoment goals.