- Letter
Stabilizing a hydrogen-rich superconductor at 1 GPa by charge transfer modulated virtual high-pressure effect
Phys. Rev. B 107, L180501 – Published 12 May, 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.107.L180501
Abstract
Applying pressure around megabar is indispensable in the synthesis of high-temperature superconducting hydrides, such as and . Stabilizing the high-pressure phase of hydride around ambient condition is a severe challenge. Based on the density-functional theory calculations, we give the first example that the structure of hydride predicted above 280 GPa can maintain its dynamical stability with pressure down to 1 GPa, by modulating the charge transfer from metal atoms to hydrogen atoms via the replacement of Ca with alkali metal atoms, e.g., Cs, in which the anion shrinks along axis and expands in the plane, experiencing an anisotropic virtual high pressure. This mechanism, namely charge transfer modulated virtual high-pressure effect, plays a vital role in enhancing the structural stability and leading to the reemergence of ambient-pressure-forbidden anion around 1 GPa in . Moreover, we find that is a strongly coupled superconductor, with transition temperature as high as 98 K, well above the liquid-nitrogen temperature. Our findings provide a novel mechanism to reduce the critical pressure required by hydrogen-rich compound without changing its crystal structure, and also shed light on searching ambient-pressure high-temperature superconductivity in metal borohydrides.