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    Materials science frontier tracker

    This tracker follows milestones at the materials frontier. As of October 2026 the ambient-pressure superconductivity record stands at 151 K, nickelate films have reached a 63 K onset without pressure, and perovskite-silicon tandem cells have hit a certified 35.5%.[1][2][3] Claims of AI-accelerated discovery are growing but have needed correction, as with the A-Lab in January 2026.[4][5]

    Editor reviewedUpdated Materials sciencePhysicsScience

    What we know

    • The ambient-pressure superconductivity record is 151 K (Hg-1223, pressure-quenched), reported March 2026.[1]
    • Nickelates superconduct up to 96 K under pressure and show a 63 K onset in ambient-pressure films.[2]
    • LK-99 is not a superconductor; a Cu2S impurity explains its behaviour.[25]
    • The perovskite-silicon tandem cell record is 35.5% (LONGi, ESTI-certified, July 2026).[3]
    • Zero-field fractional quantum Hall states exist in moiré and rhombohedral graphene and twisted MoTe2.[20]
    • A 5,900-transistor 2D-semiconductor microprocessor works, but only at kilohertz speeds.[21]
    • The A-Lab's 2023 'novel materials' claim was corrected in January 2026; the current paper reports 36 compounds from 57 targets.[5]
    • The 151 K and 63 K results are now in peer-reviewed journals (PNAS and National Science Review), each from a single group.[11]
    • Oxford PV has licensed its perovskite patents to Trinasolar (China, 2025) and First Solar (US, 2026).[17]

    What we don't know yet

    • Whether any superconductor can work near room temperature at ambient pressure, and by what mechanism.
    • Whether pressure-quenched Hg-1223 at 151 K is independently reproduced and stable enough to use.
    • How long perovskite-silicon tandem modules last in the field, and which accelerated tests predict it.
    • Whether AI-driven autonomous labs such as Periodic Labs produce verified new functional materials.
    • Whether Microsoft's topological 'topoconductor' really hosts Majorana modes.
    • What pairing mechanism drives nickelate superconductivity; an August 2026 report of a nodeless gap awaits confirmation.
    Story status

    Story status

    State
    developing
    Started
    2004-10-21
    Timeline entries
    24
    Last entry

    Timeline data (JSON)

    What this tracker covers

    This page logs milestones in superconductors, 2D and moiré materials, perovskite solar, topological materials, characterisation and AI-driven discovery.

    Tags: confirmed, reported (one credible report) or disputed. The superconductivity entries matter for power and computing hardware. The 2D-semiconductor and metalens entries connect to how chips are made. The AI-discovery entries involve google-deepmind‘s GNoME.[6]

    Background: materials science crash course.

    What to watch next

    • Replication of the 151 K record. The pressure-quenched Hg-1223 result appeared in PNAS in March 2026. Independent reproduction, and data on how long the state survives, will decide whether it is a new baseline.[1][7]
    • Nickelate zero-resistance temperatures. Film onsets reached 63 K, but zero resistance came only at 37 K. Closing that gap, and approaching the 96 K seen under pressure, is the next marker.[2][8]
    • Moiré topology. The July 2026 C = 7/3 fractional Chern insulator suggests more exotic states are waiting in twisted graphene stacks.[9]
    • Perovskite field data. Tandem efficiencies keep rising. The open issue is validated outdoor lifetime and better accelerated tests.[3][10]
    • AI labs delivering verified results. Periodic Labs and similar efforts should be judged on independently confirmed materials, given the A-Lab correction.[4][5]

    Where things stand

    Superconductors. The ambient-pressure record of 151 K is now a peer-reviewed PNAS paper. It is backed by synchrotron X-ray diffraction and calculations, but it still comes from one group, and the record had been stuck since 1993.[11][1] Nickelates are closing in from two sides. Strained films reached a 63 K onset in National Science Review, with zero resistance at about 37 K, up from a previous ceiling of about 50 K.[12] Pressurised crystals reached 96 K in Nature.[8] The pairing mechanism is open. An August 2026 report of a nodeless gap in La3Ni2O7 films, which would set nickelates apart from cuprates, awaits confirmation.[13]

    Perovskite solar. LONGi’s certified 35.5% tandem cell remains the record, and its modules reached a company-reported 31.4%.[3][14] Flexible tandems hit a certified 33.6%.[15] The commercial model is shifting toward licensing. Oxford PV licensed its patents to Trinasolar for China and to First Solar for the US.[16][17]

    AI-driven discovery. The A-Lab’s current paper reports 36 compounds from 57 targets, fewer than the 41 first announced, after a January 2026 correction on novelty.[18][5] The test for newer efforts such as Periodic Labs is independently confirmed materials.[4]

    2D materials and topology. Moiré and rhombohedral graphene stacks keep producing new topological states. After zero-field fractional quantum Hall states in twisted MoTe2 (2023) and five-layer graphene (2024), a July 2026 Nature paper reported Chern numbers from 1 to 7 and a fractional C = 7/3 state.[19][20][9] On the device side, the 5,900-transistor MoS2 processor showed that 2D semiconductors can form complete circuits, though only at kilohertz speeds and not yet for real-world use.[21][22]

    Tools. Electron ptychography’s resolution is now limited by the thermal motion of atoms rather than by the microscope. Its main constraints are computing cost and sample choice.[23][24]

    Timeline

    19 confirmed3 reported2 disputed

    1. reported

      Nodeless superconducting gap reported in nickelate films[13]

      A Nature Physics study, reported by Phys.org, points to pairing unlike the d-wave of cuprates.

    2. confirmed

      Fractional Chern insulator with C = 7/3 found in twisted graphene[9]

    3. confirmed

      Perovskite-silicon tandem record reaches 35.5%[3]

    4. confirmed

      Study finds standard perovskite ageing tests misjudge outdoor degradation[10]

    5. reported

      Nickelate films reach 63 K onset at ambient pressure[2][12]

      The peer-reviewed paper in National Science Review reports zero resistance at about 37 K.

    6. reported

      Ambient-pressure superconductivity record raised to 151 K[1][7][11]

      Published in PNAS; the result relies on pressure quenching of Hg-1223 and awaits independent replication.

    7. confirmed

      First Solar licenses Oxford PV perovskite patents for the US[17]

      Non-exclusive licence excluding crystalline silicon; company announcement.

    8. confirmed

      Nature publishes A-Lab author correction on novelty claims[5]

    9. confirmed

      Nickelate crystals superconduct at up to 96 K under pressure[8][42]

    10. confirmed

      Certified 33.6% flexible perovskite-silicon tandem published[15]

    11. confirmed

      Periodic Labs launches with $300M to build AI-run materials labs[4]

    12. confirmed

      Oxford PV licenses perovskite patents to Trinasolar for China[16]

      Company announcement of an exclusive licence with the right to sublicense.

    13. confirmed

      32-bit RISC-V processor built from 5,900 MoS2 transistors[21][22]

    14. disputed

      Microsoft announces Majorana 1 "topological core" chip[40][41]

    15. confirmed

      Nickelate films pass the 40 K McMillan limit at ambient pressure[38][39]

    16. confirmed

      Ambient-pressure superconductivity signatures in nickelate thin films[36][37]

    17. confirmed

      Oxford PV ships first commercial perovskite-silicon tandem modules[35]

    18. disputed

      Chemists challenge A-Lab's discovery claims[33][34]

    19. confirmed

      GNoME adds ~380,000 predicted stable crystals; A-Lab reports 41 new compounds[6][32][18]

      The A-Lab's current paper reports 36 compounds from 57 targets, fewer than first announced.

    20. confirmed

      Nature retracts lutetium hydride room-temperature superconductor paper[31]

    21. confirmed

      Zero-field fractional quantum Hall effect reported in pentalayer graphene[20]

      The preprint followed the 2023 observation in twisted MoTe2 and was published in Nature in 2024.

    22. confirmed

      Replications show LK-99 is not a superconductor[29][30][25]

    23. confirmed

      LK-99 preprint claims room-temperature, ambient-pressure superconductivity[28]

      The preprint claimed superconductivity at 400 K or above in a copper-doped lead apatite. The claim itself was later refuted.

    24. confirmed

      Graphene isolated, launching the 2D materials era[26][27]

      The paper describing atomically thin carbon films later earned the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics.

    Questions readers ask

    What is the latest superconductivity record?

    At ambient pressure, 151 K in pressure-quenched Hg-1223, reported in March 2026. Under high pressure, lanthanum hydride reaches about 250 K.[1][43]

    What is the best perovskite solar cell efficiency?

    A perovskite-silicon tandem cell reached a certified 35.5% in July 2026.[3]

    Has AI discovered new materials?

    AI has predicted millions of candidate crystals, and DeepMind said 736 were independently made, but an autonomous lab's novelty claims were corrected in 2026.[6][44][5]

    Sources

    Each numbered claim is a statement we checked against the sources listed with it. Status shows how well established it is.

    1. [1]

      In March 2026 a University of Houston team reported a superconducting transition temperature of 151 K at ambient pressure in the mercury cuprate Hg-1223, beating the 133 K ambient-pressure record that had stood since 1993. reportedas of 2026-10-10

    2. [2]

      In April 2026 a SUSTech-led team reported (La,Pr)3Ni2O7 films with a superconducting onset of 63 K and zero resistance at 37 K at ambient pressure, published in National Science Review. reportedas of 2026-10-10

    3. [3]

      On 14 July 2026 LONGi announced a crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem cell with 35.5% efficiency, certified by the European Solar Test Installation (ESTI), a new world record. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    4. [4]

      Periodic Labs emerged on 30 September 2025 with a $300 million seed round to build AI scientists and autonomous labs, with new superconductors as an early goal. confirmedas of 2025-09-30

    5. [5]

      In January 2026 Nature published an author correction to the A-Lab paper acknowledging concerns about structure identification and clarifying that "novel" meant new to the prediction platform, not necessarily new to science. confirmedas of 2026-01-18

    6. [6]

      Google DeepMind's GNoME model predicted 2.2 million new crystal structures, of which about 380,000 were judged most stable, and contributed them to the Materials Project in November 2023. confirmedas of 2023-11-29

    7. [7]

      The 151 K result used "pressure quenching", in which the material is squeezed to enhance superconductivity, cooled, and then released so the enhanced state is retained at ambient pressure; it was published in PNAS on 9 March 2026. reportedas of 2026-10-10

    8. [8]

      A Chinese team reported in Nature in December 2025 superconductivity at up to 96 K in pressurised La2SmNi2O7 single crystals grown with an ambient-pressure flux method. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    9. [9]

      A Nature paper published on 15 July 2026 reported quantum anomalous Hall insulators with Chern numbers from 1 to 7 and an exotic fractional Chern insulator with C = 7/3 in a moiré system of Bernal bilayer and rhombohedral tetralayer graphene. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    10. [10]

      A June 2026 Joule study comparing perovskite cells aged 20 months outdoors with lab-aged cells found that standard high-temperature tests (65-85 °C) caused degradation not seen outdoors, while raising light intensity to 2.3 suns reproduced the outdoor degradation patterns. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    11. [11]

      The PNAS paper says the ambient-pressure Tc record had been unchanged since 1993, and that the 151 K result is supported by synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements and phonon and electronic-structure calculations. confirmedas of 2026-03-09

    12. [12]

      The peer-reviewed National Science Review paper reports a superconducting onset of about 63 K in (La,Pr)3Ni2O7 films grown under compressive strain on SrLaAlO4, zero resistance at about 37 K and a diamagnetic transition starting at about 23 K, up from an earlier ambient-pressure ceiling of about 50 K. confirmedas of 2026-03-10

    13. [13]

      In August 2026 Phys.org reported a Nature Physics study by Chinese groups finding a nodeless superconducting gap in strontium-doped La3Ni2O7 films, pointing to a pairing symmetry different from the d-wave pairing of cuprates. reportedas of 2026-08-23

    14. [14]

      LONGi said its tandem modules had reached independently certified efficiencies of 31.4% and 29.4% (company-reported). confirmedas of 2026-07-14

    15. [15]

      A Nature paper published online in November 2025 reported a certified 33.6%-efficient flexible perovskite/silicon tandem cell that kept 91% of its initial efficiency after 5,000 bending cycles. confirmedas of 2025-11-10

    16. [16]

      In April 2025 Oxford PV signed an exclusive patent licence letting Trinasolar make and sell perovskite-based PV products in China, with the right to sublicense (company-reported). confirmedas of 2025-04-09

    17. [17]

      In February 2026 First Solar took a non-exclusive licence to Oxford PV's perovskite patents for potential US products, excluding crystalline silicon, and said it runs a perovskite development line in Perrysburg, Ohio (company-reported). confirmedas of 2026-02-24

    18. [18]

      The A-Lab, an autonomous lab for solid-state synthesis described in Nature in November 2023, realized 36 compounds from 57 targets over 17 days of continuous operation, according to the current version of the paper. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    19. [19]

      In 2023 researchers observed the fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect, fractionally quantised Hall resistance with no applied magnetic field, in twisted bilayer MoTe2, enabling research into charge fractionalisation and anyonic statistics without external magnetic fields. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    20. [20]

      A rhombohedral five-layer graphene/hBN moiré superlattice showed integer and fractional quantum anomalous Hall effects at zero magnetic field at several filling factors, reported in Nature in 2024. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    21. [21]

      In April 2025 a Fudan University team reported in Nature a 32-bit RISC-V microprocessor built from 5,900 molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) transistors, running at kilohertz clock speeds. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    22. [22]

      The MoS2 processor's developers said it is not yet ready for real-world use, although it achieved a chip-level yield of 99.8%. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    23. [23]

      In 2021 the Cornell team improved its record by a factor of two using an electron microscope pixel array detector and 3D reconstruction, reaching a point where only the thermal jiggling of atoms blurs the image. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    24. [24]

      The 2021 method is time-consuming and computationally demanding; the researchers said it could become more efficient with more powerful computers, machine learning and faster detectors, and that heavier atoms or cooler samples could push resolution further. confirmedas of 2021-05-20

    25. [25]

      An August 2023 study attributed LK-99's sudden resistivity drop to a structural phase transition of a copper sulfide (Cu2S) impurity near 385 K, and observed no zero resistance. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    26. [26]

      The 2004 Science paper that launched graphene research described a naturally occurring two-dimensional carbon material and a transistor made from it. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    27. [27]

      The 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics went to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene". confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    28. [28]

      On 22 July 2023 a preprint claimed that LK-99, a copper-doped lead apatite, was a superconductor at 400 K (127 °C) or above at ambient pressure, attributing this to a slight structural distortion from copper substituting for lead. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    29. [29]

      By 16 August 2023 Nature's news team reported that replication efforts had established LK-99 is not a superconductor and explained its superconductor-like behaviour. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    30. [30]

      In August 2023 researchers who grew phase-pure single crystals of the LK-99 compound found them highly insulating and transparent and ruled out superconductivity. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    31. [31]

      On 7 November 2023 Nature retracted a March 2023 paper claiming room-temperature superconductivity in a nitrogen-doped lutetium hydride, after eight of its 11 authors requested retraction; most other groups had failed to reproduce the result. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    32. [32]

      Berkeley Lab's autonomous A-Lab was reported in November 2023 to have synthesised 41 new compounds out of 58 targets during 17 days of unattended operation. confirmedas of 2023-11-29

    33. [33]

      In early 2024 chemists from University College London and Princeton argued that the A-Lab's X-ray diffraction analysis had systematic errors and that about two-thirds of its predicted compounds were ordered versions of already known disordered compounds. confirmedas of 2024-01-16

    34. [34]

      A senior A-Lab author responded that a human could refine the samples' data better, but that the goal was to demonstrate an autonomous laboratory. confirmedas of 2024-01-16

    35. [35]

      In September 2024 Oxford PV shipped what it called the first commercial perovskite-on-silicon tandem modules, 24.5% efficient, to a US utility-scale project, from its pilot line in Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany; it said the modules can produce up to 20% more than a standard silicon panel. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    36. [36]

      In a Nature paper published in December 2024, Stanford and SLAC researchers reported signatures of ambient-pressure superconductivity in strained La3Ni2O7 thin films, with onset temperatures of roughly 26 to 42 K but zero resistance only near 2 K. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    37. [37]

      The ambient-pressure nickelate films use epitaxial compressive strain from the substrate to mimic the effect of applied pressure. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    38. [38]

      A paper submitted in December 2024 and published in Nature in 2025 reported a 45 K superconducting onset at ambient pressure in three-unit-cell-thick (La,Pr)3Ni2O7 films, above the roughly 40 K McMillan limit, with zero resistance and a Meissner effect at lower temperatures. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    39. [39]

      In the 45 K ultrathin films, zero resistance appeared through a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless-like transition at about 9 K and the Meissner effect at 8.5 K, with about 2% compressive strain in the nickel-oxide planes. confirmedas of 2024-12-21

    40. [40]

      In February 2025 Microsoft announced Majorana 1, which it described as the first quantum processor powered by a topological core, built from an indium arsenide-aluminium "topoconductor". confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    41. [41]

      The Nature peer-review file for Microsoft's 2025 paper stated that its results do not represent evidence for Majorana zero modes, and the paper itself did not claim a topological qubit. confirmedas of 2025-02-25

    42. [42]

      The Nature paper on the 96 K result notes that La3Ni2O7 superconducts at about 80 K above 14 GPa, reports bulk superconductivity with zero resistivity and the Meissner effect in flux-grown La2SmNi2O7 crystals, and links higher Tc under pressure to larger in-plane lattice distortion at ambient conditions. confirmedas of 2025-12-02

    43. [43]

      Lanthanum hydride (LaH10) was reported in 2018-2019 to superconduct at about 250 K, but only under about 170 GPa of pressure, beating the earlier 203 K record set by H3S. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    44. [44]

      DeepMind said external researchers had independently synthesised 736 of GNoME's predicted materials. confirmedas of 2023-11-29

    Revision history (2)
    1. Page created.
    2. Brought the tracker up to October 2026: peer-reviewed sources for the 151 K, 63 K and 96 K results, current A-Lab figures, nickelate gap report, flexible tandem, Oxford PV licences; added a where-things-stand section.

    Created Oct 10, 2026. Last reviewed by an editor on Oct 10, 2026. Next scheduled review: Dec 10, 2026.

    Cite this page

    "Materials science frontier tracker." ContentLora, updated Oct 10, 2026. https://contentlora.com/events/materials-science-tracker

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