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    Nickelate superconductors

    Also known as bilayer nickelates, Ruddlesden-Popper nickelates, La3Ni2O7

    Nickelate superconductors are nickel-oxide compounds that became a new high-temperature family in 2023, when La3Ni2O7 was found to superconduct near 80 K under high pressure.[1] By 2026 pressurised crystals had reached 96 K and strained thin films showed an ambient-pressure onset of 63 K, giving physicists a second oxide high-temperature family alongside the cuprates.[2][3]

    Editor reviewedUpdated Materials sciencePhysicsScience
    Key facts

    What they are

    Nickelates are compounds of nickel and oxygen with other elements such as lanthanum. The family that matters now is the “bilayer” nickelate La3Ni2O7. In 2023 it was found to superconduct near 80 K, but only under high pressure.[1] That put nickelates in the same temperature range as the copper-oxide cuprates discovered in 1986.[4]

    Getting rid of the pressure

    Materials that work at ambient pressure are much easier to study with standard instruments.[5] For nickelates the workaround has been strain. In a Nature paper published in December 2024, researchers at Stanford and SLAC grew La3Ni2O7 thin films on substrates that compress the crystal, mimicking pressure.[6] They saw signatures of superconductivity at ambient pressure, with onset temperatures from about 26 to 42 K, though resistance only reached zero near 2 K.[7]

    Progress since then has been rapid:

    • A paper submitted in December 2024 and published in Nature in 2025 reported a 45 K onset in (La,Pr)3Ni2O7 films just three unit cells thick. That is above the roughly 40 K McMillan limit, and the team confirmed zero resistance and the Meissner effect at lower temperatures.[8]
    • Across groups, ambient-pressure films then reached onsets of about 40-50 K.[9]
    • In April 2026 a team led by the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) reported (La,Pr)3Ni2O7 films with an onset of 63 K and zero resistance at 37 K, using a new growth method. The result appeared in National Science Review.[3]

    Pushing the pressure record

    Under pressure, bulk crystals keep climbing. In December 2025 a Chinese team from Shandong University and partner institutes reported in Nature superconductivity up to 96 K in La2SmNi2O7 crystals. The crystals were grown with a flux method that does not need high-pressure synthesis.[2]

    Why it matters

    The 63 K films also showed “strange-metal” behaviour above their transition, and their authors present them as a platform for studying the mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity.[10] For applications they are still far behind. The cuprate Hg-1223 reached 151 K at ambient pressure in March 2026, more than twice the best nickelate film onset.[11][3] Watch whether the gap between pressurised bulk Tc (up to 96 K) and film Tc (63 K) closes. Watch too whether zero-resistance temperatures catch up with onset temperatures.[9] Context: how superconductivity works and the materials science tracker.

    What the papers show

    The 63 K result is now in the peer-reviewed journal National Science Review. Its films were grown under compressive strain on SrLaAlO4. They reach zero resistance at about 37 K and show a diamagnetic transition from about 23 K. Before this, ambient-pressure nickelates had been capped at an onset of about 50 K.[12] Higher-onset samples show more strange-metal-like resistivity, and the authors report interlayer coupling stronger than in cuprates.[13] It is still one group’s result.[3]

    The 96 K Nature paper recalls that La3Ni2O7 needs more than 14 GPa to superconduct near 80 K. It reports bulk superconductivity in flux-grown La2SmNi2O7, including zero resistivity, and links higher Tc under pressure to larger in-plane lattice distortion at ambient conditions.[14] In the earlier 45 K ultrathin films, zero resistance arrived only near 9 K and the Meissner effect at 8.5 K, with about 2% strain in the nickel-oxide planes.[15]

    The mechanism is open. In August 2026 Phys.org reported a Nature Physics study that found a nodeless superconducting gap in strontium-doped La3Ni2O7 films. That points to pairing different from the d-wave pairing of cuprates. The finding has not yet been reproduced.[16]

    Questions readers ask

    What is the highest temperature at which a nickelate superconducts?

    Under pressure, 96 K in La2SmNi2O7 single crystals, reported in Nature in December 2025. Without pressure, thin films have shown an onset of 63 K, reported in April 2026.[2][3]

    How do nickelate films superconduct without pressure?

    They are grown on substrates that compress the crystal lattice, and this epitaxial strain mimics the effect of applied pressure.[6]

    Are nickelates better than cuprates?

    Not yet. The cuprate Hg-1223 superconducts at up to 151 K at ambient pressure, far above the 63 K onset of the best nickelate films.[11][3]

    Sources

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

    1. [1]

      The bilayer nickelate La3Ni2O7 was discovered in 2023 to superconduct near 80 K, but only under high pressure. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    2. [2]

      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

    3. [3]

      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

    4. [4]

      In 1986 scientists discovered copper-oxide (cuprate) superconductors, some of which work above the temperature of liquid nitrogen. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    5. [5]

      Bringing a superconductor to ambient pressure makes it much more accessible to study with well-developed instruments and to develop for technologies, according to the University of Houston team behind the 151 K result. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    6. [6]

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

    7. [7]

      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

    8. [8]

      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

    9. [9]

      Before the 63 K result, ambient-pressure nickelate films had been limited to onset temperatures of about 40-50 K, while pressurised bulk samples had reached 80-96 K. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    10. [10]

      The 63 K nickelate films show strange-metal behaviour in the normal state, and their authors describe them as an experimental platform for studying the mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity. reportedas of 2026-10-10

    11. [11]

      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

    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 the 63 K films, the normal-state resistivity changes from Fermi-liquid-like in lower-onset samples to strange-metal-like in higher-onset samples, and the authors report interlayer coupling stronger than in cuprates. confirmedas of 2026-03-10

    14. [14]

      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

    15. [15]

      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

    16. [16]

      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

    17. [17]

      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

    Revision history (2)
    1. Page created.
    2. Added peer-reviewed details of the 63 K (National Science Review), 96 K (Nature) and 45 K results, and the August 2026 nodeless-gap report.

    Created Oct 10, 2026. Last reviewed by an editor on Oct 10, 2026. Next scheduled review: Jan 10, 2027.

    Cite this page

    "Nickelate superconductors." ContentLora, updated Oct 10, 2026. https://contentlora.com/wiki/nickelate-superconductors

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