Build Instructions

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• 1

  LK-99 Synthesis Instructions

  Below are the instructions given by the original lab that claimed to produce the room-temperature superconductor LK-99:

  - Prepare lanarkite (Pb2SO5)

       - PbO and PbSO4 mixed uniformly in a 1:1 molar ratio

       - bake in a furnace in an alumina crucible at 725C for 24 hours

       - pulverize the white powder product (lanarkite)

  - Prepare copper phosphide (Cu3P)

       - Cu and P mixed in 3:1 molar ratios

       - bake in a furnace at 550C under vacuum for 48 hours

       - pulverize dark grey product (copper phosphide)

  - Synthesize LK-99

       - lanarkite and copper phosphide were ground together into a uniform powder

       - place in a sealed crystal tube at vacuum

       - bake in a furnace for 5-20 hours to produce LK-99

• 2

  LK-99 Synthesis First Trial

  Below are the steps that our lab followed during the first attempt of recreating LK-99:

  - Prepare lanarkite

       - weigh out roughly 1.7g PbO and 2.3g PbSO4

       - mix until uniform in a clean beaker

       - transfer to graphite crucible coated in boron nitride and seal with lid

       - pull vacuum on the furnace

       - once at vacuum, bake at 725C for 2 hours

       - remove the crucible and grind up product in a mortar before setting aside in a labeled bag

  - Prepare copper phosphide

       - weight out roughly 3g Cu (our source was originally copper wire shavings, but we used copper powder in later test as this proved to be better for our purposes) and 0.5g of P (red phosphorus powder)

       - transfer to a glass vial with a metal cap and mix until uniform

       - close the cap tightly

       - blowtorch the sample to allow for the reaction to the place without evaporating off P

       - carefully break open the glass tube and extract the product

       - grind up the copper phosphide with a mortar and pestle

  - Synthesize LK-99

       - weigh out roughly 1.8g lanarkite and 0.05g of copper phopshide, as this will allow for the molar ratio of 1 : ~9.2 copper : lead

       - weigh out roughly 0.004g of S, as the paper initially claimed that there was a sulfur impurity not accounted for

       - mix all of these uniformly in a beaker with a clean scoopula

       - transfer to an alumina crucible and place in the furnace

       - pull vacuum on the crucible and the reactants

       - bake at 925C for roughly 6 hours

       - remove the crucible and observe the crystals

  At this point, the crystals that we had retrieved were not large enough to test for super conductivity, but we did record the interactions with one of the crystals and a magnet:

  Additionally, here is a live stream with some more information on our process:

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