No Arabic abstract
Since the discovery of superconductivity in MgB2 (Tc ~ 39 K), the search for superconductivity in related materials with similar structures or ingredients has never stopped. Although about 100 binary borides have been explored, only few of them show superconductivity with relatively low Tc. In this work, we report the discovery of superconductivity up to 32 K in MoB2 under pressure which is the highest Tc in transition-metal borides. Although the Tc can be well explained by theoretical calculations in the framework of electron-phonon coupling, the d-electrons and phonon modes of transition metal Mo atoms play utterly important roles in the emergence of superconductivity in MoB2, distinctly different from the case of well-known MgB2. Our study sheds light on the exploration of high-Tc superconductors in transition metal borides.
High-pressure electrical resistance measurements have been performed on single crystal Ba0.5Sr0.5Fe2As2 platelets to pressures of 16 GPa and temperatures down to 10 K using designer diamond anvils under quasi-hydrostatic conditions with an insulating steatite pressure medium. The resistance measurements show evidence of pressure-induced superconductivity with an onset transition temperature at ~31 K and zero resistance at ~22 K for a pressure of 3.3 GPa. The transition temperature decreases gradually with increasing in pressure before completely disappearing for pressures above 12 GPa. The present results provide experimental evidence that a solid solution of two 122-type materials, e.g., Ba1-x.SrxFe2As2 (0 < x <1), can also exhibit superconductivity under high pressure
A huge enhancement of the superconducting transition temperature Tc was observed in tetragonal FeSe superconductor under high pressure. The onset temperature became as high as 27 K at 1.48 GPa and the pressure coefficient showed a huge value of 9.1 K/GPa. The upper critical field Hc2 was estimated to be ~ 72 T at 1.48 GPa. Because of the high Hc2, FeSe system may be a candidate for application as superconducting wire rods. Moreover, the investigation of superconductivity on simple structured FeSe may provide important clues to the mechanism of superconductivity in iron-based superconductors.
Bi2Te3 compound has been theoretically predicted (1) to be a topological insulator, and its topologically non-trivial surface state with a single Dirac cone has been observed in photoemission experiments (2). Here we report that superconductivity (Tc^~3K) can be induced in Bi2Te3 as-grown single crystal (with hole-carriers) via pressure. The first-principles calculations show that the electronic structure under pressure remains to be topologically nontrivial, and the Dirac-type surface states can be well distinguished from bulk states at corresponding Fermi level. The proximity effect between superconducting bulk states and Dirac-type surface state could generate Majorana fermions on the surface. We also discuss the possibility that the bulk state could be a topological superconductor.
The pressure dependences of resistivity and ac susceptibility have been measured in the mineral calaverite AuTe$_2$. Resistivity clearly shows a first-order phase transition into a high-pressure phase, consistent with the results of a previous structural analysis. We found zero resistivity and a diamagnetic shielding signal at low temperatures in the high-pressure phase, which clearly indicates the appearance of superconductivity. Our experimental results suggest that bulk superconductivity appears only in the high-pressure phase. For AuTe$_2$, the highest superconducting transition temperature under pressure is $T_{rm c}$ = 2.3 K at 2.34 GPa; it was $T_{rm c}$ = 4.0 K for Pt-doped (Au$_{0.65}$Pt$_{0.35}$)Te$_2$. The difference in $T_{rm c}$ between the two systems is discussed on the basis of the results obtained using the band calculations and McMillans formula.
Recently monolayer jacutingaite (Pt2HgSe3), a naturally occurring exfoliable mineral, discovered in Brazil in 2008, has been theoretically predicted as a candidate quantum spin Hall system with a 0.5 eV band gap, while the bulk form is one of only a few known dual-topological insulators which may host different surface states protected by symmetries. In this work, we systematically investigate both structure and electronic evolution of bulk Pt2HgSe3 under high pressure up to 96 GPa. The nontrivial topology persists up to the structural phase transition observed in the high-pressure regime. Interestingly, we found that this phase transition is accompanied by the appearance of superconductivity at around 55 GPa and the critical transition temperature Tc increases with applied pressure. Our results demonstrate that Pt2HgSe3 with nontrivial topology of electronic states displays new ground states upon compression and raises potentials in application to the next-generation spintronic devices.