Superconductivity in Lithium

Superconductivity in lithium now has the highest demonstrated transition temperature of any element, 20 K. Great pressure, 48 GPa, was needed to achieve superconductivity.

According to the physicists at the University of Tokyo and Osaka University who performed the experiment on lithium (the sample and its electrical leads are squeezed in a diamond anvil press), their result bears out an expectation that lighter elements should possess higher transition temperatures.

Extrapolating this principle further, they argue, might produce room temperature superconductivity in hydrogen, but only at crushing pressures above 400 GPa. (Shimizu et al., Nature, 10 October 2002.)