Enhancement of Tc in the atomic phase of iodine-doped hydrogen at high pressures†
Defang Duan,Fubo Tian,Yunxian Liu,Xiaoli Huang,Da Li,Hongyu Yu,Yanbin Ma,Bingbing Liu,Tian Cui
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics Pub Date : 11/11/2015 00:00:00 , DOI:10.1039/C5CP05218A
Abstract

The high-pressure structures and superconductivity of iodine-doped hydrogen have been studied by ab initio calculations. Above 100 GPa, we discover a stable phase with Pnma symmetry in the H2I stoichiometry that consists of a monatomic iodine tube trapping hydrogen molecular units. Interestingly, H2 molecular units dissociate and form a novel atomic phase with R[3 with combining macron]m symmetry at 246 GPa. Further electron–phonon coupling calculations predict the critical temperature of superconductivity Tc to be 3.8 K for the Pnma phase and 33 K for the R[3 with combining macron]m phase at 240 GPa. Significantly, the Tc of the R[3 with combining macron]m phase is enhanced approximately 8 times that of the Pnma phase, which is mainly attributed to the reason that H2 molecules are broken exhibiting an atomic character in the R[3 with combining macron]m phase.

Graphical abstract: Enhancement of Tc in the atomic phase of iodine-doped hydrogen at high pressures