MANA reveals atomic-scale rails for guiding superconducting vortices
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 29-Oct-2026 16:16 ET (29-Oct-2026 20:16 GMT/UTC)
Researchers at the Research Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), one of the centers under the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan, discovered that atomic-scale steps can guide superconducting vortices in an ultrathin superconductor. Vortices moved more than 1,000 times more easily along the steps than across them, and this guiding effect could be tuned by temperature and magnetic field.
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Protonic solid oxide electrolysis cells (P-SOECs) represent a promising technology for efficient and economical green hydrogen production. However, the development of high-performance anodes that simultaneously achieve excellent catalytic activity and mixed ionic–electronic conductivity remains a significant challenge. In this work, high-performance La0.9Ba0.1Co0.7Ni0.2Ag0.1O3−δ (LBCNA) anodes featuring the coexistence of three-phases—rhombohedral ABO3-type LBCNA, Ruddlesden–Popper type LBCNA, and Ag metal nanoparticles—were successfully constructed. The optimized LBCNA-900 anode exhibits exceptional catalytic activity, with an ultralow area-specific resistance (ASR) of 0.10 Ω·cm2 at 600 °C. When applied in P-SOECs, the LBCNA-900 anode demonstrates remarkable performance, achieving a high current density of 1.8 A·cm−2 at 1.3 V at 600 °C. Beyond its promising application potential, this synergistic strategy provides a novel design principle for developing advanced electrocatalysts, with potential implications for a broad range of energy conversion and storage technologies.