Superconductivity in room-temperature stable electride and high-pressure phases of alkali metals
Hideo Hosono1, Sung-Wng Kim2, Satoru Matsuishi3
1Frontier Research Center, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta, Midori, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan ACCEL Program, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Hon-cho, Kawaguchi 332-0012, Japan hosono@msl.titech.ac.jp.
Abstract:
S-band metals such as alkali and alkaline earth metals do not undergo a superconducting transition (SCT) at ambient pressure, but their high-pressure phases do. By contrast, room-temperature stable electride [Ca(24)Al(28)O(64)](4+)⋅4e(-) (C12A7:e(-)) in which anionic electrons in the crystallographic sub-nanometer-size cages have high s-character exhibits SCT at 0.2-0.4 K at ambient pressure. In this paper, we report that crystal and electronic structures of C12A7:e(-) are close to those of the high-pressure superconducting phase of alkali and alkaline earth metals and the SCT of both materials is induced when electron nature at Fermi energy (EF) switches from s- to sd-hybridized state.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Superconductor
Types Of Superconductors
Alkali Metals
Table 1: Properties of the alkali metals
Ionic Bonding and Electron Transfer
Types of Chemical Bonds
Noble Gases
The elements in group 18 are noble gases (helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon). They earned the name “noble” because they were assumed to be nonreactive since they have filled valence shells. In 1962, Dr. Neil Bartlett at the University of British Columbia proved this assumption to be false.


