A room-temperature superconductor is a material that is capable of exhibiting superconductivity at operating temperatures above 0 °C (273 K; 32 °F), that is, temperatures that can be reached and easily maintained in an everyday environment. As of 2020, the material with the highest claimed superconducting temperature is an extremely pressurized carbonaceous sulfur hydride with a critical transition temperature of +15 °C at 267 GPa. On 22 September 2022, the original article reporting superconductivity in the carbonaceous sulfur hydride material was retracted by Nature journal editorial board due to a non standard, user-defined data analysis, calling into question the scientific validity of the claim.

At atmospheric pressure the temperature record is still held by cuprates, which have demonstrated superconductivity at temperatures as high as 138 K (−135 °C).

Although researchers once doubted whether room-temperature superconductivity was actually achievable, superconductivity has repeatedly been discovered at temperatures that were previously unexpected or held to be impossible.

Claims of "near-room temperature" transient effects date from the early 1950s. Finding a room temperature superconductor "would have enormous technological importance and, for example, help to solve the world's energy problems, provide for faster computers, allow for novel memory-storage devices, and enable ultra-sensitive sensors, among many other possibilities."