Unlocking superconductivity in the intrinsically nonsuperconducting noble metals Au, Ag, and Cu represents a fundamental challenge in low-dimensional quantum materials. While quantum confinement in the atomically thin limit is known to trigger emergent superconductivity, strategies to amplify this marginal effect to experimentally accessible temperatures remain a key open question. Using first-principles calculations, we establish a unified framework linking intrinsic confinement effects with interface engineering in noble metal films. We reveal that intrinsic superconductivity is element specific: It is suppressed in Ag by a stiff phonon spectrum but emerges in trilayer Cu with $T_{\text{C}}\approx 0.78\mathrm{K}$ and pentalayer Au with $T_{\text{C}}\approx 0.63\text{K}$ driven by confinement-induced density of states (DOS) enhancement and phonon softening, respectively. In hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN)/Cu(111) heterostructures, $T_{\text{C}}$ is critically dictated by the interfacial stacking configuration. The thermodynamically stable N-bonded interface provides an experimentally accessible superconducting state with $T_{\text{C}}\approx 3.23\mathrm{K}$, whereas a metastable B-bonded configuration boosts $T_{\text{C}}$ to 7.00 K. A detailed analysis reveals that the enhancement is caused not by charge transfer or a simple increase in the DOS, but by an interface-induced Lifshitz transition that reshapes the Fermi surface and amplifies momentum-resolved electron-phonon coupling matrix elements. This Lifshitz-controlled mechanism persists in bilayer h-BN/trilayer (3L) Cu(111) and is further reproduced in heterometallic 3L-Au/Ag(111), highlighting its transferability beyond a specific interface configuration. Our work unifies the understanding of intrinsic two-dimensional superconductivity with atomistic interface design and identifies interface-controlled Fermi surface topology as a route to functionalizing noble metals as emergent superconductors.

Close

PrevNext

View figure in article

• Electron-phonon coupling
• Fermi surface
• Superconductivity
• 2-dimensional systems
• Heterostructures
• Noble metals
• Density functional theory
• First-principles calculations