Hydrogen has become a superfluid at the nanoscale, confirming a prediction made 50 years ago. This discovery was made possible by creating ultra-cold labs using helium nanodroplets. The team of researchers, led by Professor Takamasa Momose from the University of British Columbia, observed hydrogen molecules flowing without friction or viscosity when placed in specific conditions.
In 1936, helium was discovered to possess superfluid characteristics at low temperatures, and physicist Dr. Vitaly Ginzburg predicted that liquid hydrogen might also exhibit this behavior in 1972. However, direct observations of hydrogen molecules becoming a superfluid had eluded scientists until now.
To achieve this, the researchers embedded methane molecules in clusters of hydrogen and spun them using laser pulses. If the methane molecule rotated faster without resistance, it indicated that the surrounding hydrogen was acting as a superfluid. When enough hydrogen molecules were present in a cluster, the methane rotated without resistance, confirming the superfluid state of hydrogen.
This discovery deepens our understanding of quantum fluids and could inspire more efficient hydrogen storage and transportation for clean energy. Hydrogen is used in fuel cells, which only release water as a byproduct, but production, storage, and transportation challenges have limited infrastructure advances. The frictionless flow of superfluid hydrogen could lead to new technologies for more efficient hydrogen transportation and storage in the future.
The study was published in Science Advances by an international team and provides new insights into molecular superfluidity in hydrogen clusters.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2025-02-hydrogen-superfluid-nanoscale-year.html