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Conventional superconductors are materials that displaysuperconductivity as described byBCS theory or its extensions. This is in contrast tounconventional superconductors, which do not. Conventional superconductors can be eithertype-I ortype-II.
Mostelemental superconductors are conventional. Niobium and vanadium are type-II, while most other elemental superconductors are type-I. Critical temperatures of some elemental superconductors:
| Element | Tc (K) |
|---|---|
| Al | 1.20 |
| Hg | 4.15 |
| Mo | 0.92 |
| Nb | 9.26 |
| Pb | 7.19 |
| Sn | 3.72 |
| Ta | 4.48 |
| Ti | 0.39 |
| V | 5.30 |
| Zn | 0.88 |
Most compound and alloy superconductors are type-II materials. The most commonly used conventional superconductor in applications is aniobium-titanium alloy - this is a type-II superconductor with a superconducting critical temperature of 11 K. The highest critical temperature so far achieved in a conventional superconductor was 39 K (-234 °C) inmagnesium diboride.
Ba0.6K0.4BiO3 is an unusual superconductor (a non-cuprate oxide) - but considered 'conventional' in the sense that the BCS theory applies.[1]
