Discovery of Superconductivity in Hard Hexagonal ε-NbN

Zou, Yongtao; Qi, Xintong; Zhang, Cheng; Ma, Shuailing; Zhang, Wei; Li, Ying; Chen, Ting; Wang, Xuebing; Chen, Zhiqiang; Welch, David; Zhu, Pinwen; Liu, Bingbing; Li, Qiang; Cui, Tian; Li, Baosheng

doi:10.1038/srep22330

Title: Discovery of Superconductivity in Hard Hexagonal ε-NbN

Journal Article · Mon Feb 29 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Scientific Reports

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep22330· OSTI ID:1466817

Zou, Yongtao ^[1]; Qi, Xintong ^[2]; Zhang, Cheng ^[3]; Ma, Shuailing ^[4]; Zhang, Wei ^[5]; Li, Ying ^[2]; Chen, Ting ^[2]; Wang, Xuebing ^[2]; Chen, Zhiqiang ^[2]; Welch, David ^[6]; Zhu, Pinwen ^[4]; Liu, Bingbing ^[4]; Li, Qiang ^[3]; Cui, Tian ^[4]; Li, Baosheng ^[2]

Jilin Univ., Changchun (China); State Univ. of New York, Stony Brook, NY (United States)
State Univ. of New York, Stony Brook, NY (United States)
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Jilin Univ., Changchun (China)
Southwest Univ. of Science and Technology, Sichuan (China)
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); State Univ. of New York, Stony Brook, NY (United States)

Since the discovery of superconductivity in boron-doped diamond with a critical temperature (T_C) near 4 K, great interest has been attracted in hard superconductors such as transition-metal nitrides and carbides. Here we report the new discovery of superconductivity in polycrystalline hexagonal ε-NbN synthesized at high pressure and high temperature. Direct magnetization and electrical resistivity measurements demonstrate that the superconductivity in bulk polycrystalline hexagonal ε-NbN is below ~11.6 K, which is significantly higher than that for boron-doped diamond. The nature of superconductivity in hexagonal ε-NbN and the physical mechanism for the relatively lower T_C have been addressed by the weaker bonding in the Nb-N network, the co-planarity of Nb-N layer as well as its relatively weaker electron-phonon coupling, as compared with the cubic δ-NbN counterpart. Moreover, the newly discovered ε-NbN superconductor remains stable at pressures up to ~20 GPa and is significantly harder than cubic δ-NbN; it is as hard as sapphire, ultra-incompressible and has a high shear rigidity of 201 GPa to rival hard/superhard material γ-B (~227 GPa). Furthermore, this exploration opens a new class of highly desirable materials combining the outstanding mechanical/elastic properties with superconductivity, which may be particularly attractive for its technological and engineering applications in extreme environments.

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Research Organization:: Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States); Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0001815; SC00112704

OSTI ID:: 1466817

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1245381

Report Number(s):: BNL-111904-2016-JA; PII: BFsrep22330

Journal Information:: Scientific Reports, Vol. 6, Issue 1; ISSN 2045-2322

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 28 works

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Superconductivity with high hardness in Mo ₃ C ₂ Ge, Yufei; Ma, Shuailing; Bao, Kuo Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers, Vol. 6, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1039/c9qi00182d	journal	January 2019
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Title: Discovery of Superconductivity in Hard Hexagonal ε-NbN

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