General trend for pressurized superconducting hydrogen-dense materials
- Uppsala Univ. (Sweden); Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom)
- Uppsala Univ. (Sweden)
- Carnegie Inst. of Washington, Washington, DC (United States)
- Dongguk Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)
- Uppsala Univ. (Sweden); KTH Royal Inst. of Technology, Stockholm (Sweden)
The long-standing prediction that hydrogen can assume a metallic state under high pressure, combined with arguments put forward more recently that this state might even be superconducting up to high temperatures, continues to spur tremendous research activities toward the experimental realization of metallic hydrogen. These efforts have however so far been impeded by the enormous challenges associated with the exceedingly large required pressure. Hydrogen-dense materials, of the MH{sub 4} form (where M can be, e.g., Si, Ge, or Sn) or of the MH{sub 3} form (with M being, e.g., Al, Sc, Y, or La), allow for the rather exciting opportunity to carry out a proxy study of metallic hydrogen and associated high-temperature superconductivity at pressures within the reach of current techniques. At least one experimental report indicates that a superconducting state might have been observed already in SiH{sub 4}, and several theoretical studies have predicted superconductivity in pressurized hydrogen-rich materials; however, no systematic dependence on the applied pressure has yet been identified so far. In the present work, we have used first-principles methods in an attempt to predict the superconducting critical temperature (T{sub c}) as a function of pressure (P) for three metal-hydride systems of the MH{sub 3} form, namely ScH{sub 3}, YH{sub 3}, and LaH{sub 3}. By comparing the obtained results, we are able to point out a general trend in the T{sub c}-dependence on P. These gained insights presented here are likely to stimulate further theoretical studies of metallic phases of hydrogen-dense materials and should lead to new experimental investigations of their superconducting properties.
- Research Organization:
- Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Energy Frontier Research in Extreme Environments (EFree)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0001057
- OSTI ID:
- 1064674
- Journal Information:
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 107, Issue 7; Related Information: EFree partners with Carnegie Institution of Washington (lead); California Institute of Technology; Colorado School of Mines; Cornell University; Lehigh University; Pennsylvania State University; ISSN 0027-8424
- Publisher:
- National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC (United States)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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