Record high T<sub>c</sub> element superconductivity achieved in titanium.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 36109496.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-022-33077-3 and PMC identifier 9478155.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
It is challenging to search for high T<sub>c</sub> superconductivity (SC) in transition metal elements wherein d electrons are usually not favored by conventional BCS theory. Here we report experimental discovery of surprising SC up to 310 GPa with T<sub>c</sub> above 20 K in wide pressure range from 108 GPa to 240 GPa in titanium. The maximum T<sub>c</sub><sup>onset</sup> above 26.2 K and zero resistance T<sub>c</sub><sup>zero</sup> of 21 K are record high values hitherto achieved among element superconductors. The H<sub>c2</sub>(0) is estimated to be ∼32 Tesla with coherence length 32 Å. The results show strong s-d transfer and d band dominance, indicating correlation driven contributions to high T<sub>c</sub> SC in dense titanium. This finding is in sharp contrast to the theoretical predications based on pristine electron-phonon coupling scenario. The study opens a fresh promising avenue for rational design and discovery of high T<sub>c</sub> superconductors among simple materials via pressure tuned unconventional mechanism.