Is Room Temperature Superconductivity in Carbon Nanotubes Too Wonderful to Believe
It is well known that copper-based perovskite oxides rightly enjoy consensus as high-temperature superconductors on the basis of two signatures: Meissner effect and zero resistance. In contrast, I provide over twenty signatures for room temperature superconductivity in carbon nanotubes. The one-dimensionality of the nanotubes complicates the right-of-passage for prospective quasi-one-dimensional superconductors. The Meissner effect is less visible because the diameters of nanotubes are much smaller than the penetration depth. Zero resistance is less obvious because of the quantum contact resistance and significant quantum phase slip, both of which are associated with a finite number of transverse conduction channels. Nonetheless, on-tube resistance at room temperature has been found to be indistinguishable from zero for many individual multi-walled nanotubes. On the basis of more than twenty arguments, I suggest that carbon nanotubes deserve to be classified as room temperature superconductors. The mechanism for room-temperature superconductivity may arise from strong electron-phonon and electron-plasmon coupling.