Synthesis and superconductivity in yttrium-cerium hydrides at high pressures

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 15; no. 1; p. 1809
• Main Authors: Chen, Liu-Cheng, Luo, Tao, Cao, Zi-Yu, Dalladay-Simpson, Philip, Huang, Ge, Peng, Di, Zhang, Li-Li, Gorelli, Federico Aiace, Zhong, Guo-Hua, Lin, Hai-Qing, Chen, Xiao-Jia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 28-02-2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/766/119/1003; 639/766/119/2795; Alloying; Cerium; Cerium base alloys; Critical field (superconductivity); Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydrides; Magnetic fields; multidisciplinary; Pressure; Raman spectra; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Superconductivity; Superconductors; Temperature; Temperature requirements; Transition temperature; X-ray diffraction; Yttrium
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46133-x

Further increasing the critical temperature and/or decreasing the stabilized pressure are the general hopes for the hydride superconductors. Inspired by the low stabilized pressure associated with Ce 4
f
electrons in superconducting cerium superhydride and the high critical temperature in yttrium superhydride, we carry out seven independent runs to synthesize yttrium-cerium alloy hydrides. The synthetic process is examined by the Raman scattering and X-ray diffraction measurements. The superconductivity is obtained from the observed zero-resistance state with the detected onset critical temperatures in the range of 97-141 K. The upper critical field towards 0 K at pressure of 124 GPa is determined to be between 56 and 78 T by extrapolation of the results of the electrical transport measurements at applied magnetic fields. The analysis of the structural data and theoretical calculations suggest that the phase of Y
0.5
Ce
0.5
H
9
in hexagonal structure with the space group of
P
6
3
/
m
m
c
is stable in the studied pressure range. These results indicate that alloying superhydrides indeed can maintain relatively high critical temperature at relatively modest pressures accessible by laboratory conditions.
The field of hydride superconductivity is currently attempting to increase the critical temperature T
c
, while also lowering the required stabilization pressure. Here, L.C. Chen et al. study (Y,Ce)H
9
alloys and find maximum T
c
 ~ 140 K at 130 GPa pressure.