Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Superconductivity in doped polyethylene at high pressure

  • Regular Article
  • Published:
The European Physical Journal B Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this work we study the pressure-dependent phase diagram of polyethylene (H2C)x from 50 to 200 GPa. Low-symmetry, organic polymeric phases, that are dynamically stable and thermodynamically competitive with elemental decomposition, are reported. Electronic structure calculations reveal that the band gap of the lowest energy polymeric phase decreases from 5.5 to 4.5 eV in the 50–200 GPa range, but metalization occurs only for pressures well above 500 GPa. The possibility of metalization via doping was also investigated, observing that it can be achieved through boron substitution at carbon sites. We report a sizable electron-phonon coupling (λ ≃ 0.79) in this metallic phase, with an estimated superconducting transition temperature of about 35 K. However, a rather narrow domain of stability is found; most of the dopant elements render the polymeric phases unstable and induce amorphization. This suggests that doping under pressure, though presenting an alternative route to find high temperature superconductors, would be challenging to achieve experimentally.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. P.W. Bridgman, The Nobel Prize in Physics 1946 (1946)

  2. M. Eremets, High pressure experimental methods (Oxford University Press, 1996)

  3. P.F. McMillan, Nat. Mater. 4, 715 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. E. Wigner, H.á. Huntington, J. Chem. Phys. 3, 764 (1935)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. N.W. Ashcroft, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 187002 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. M.I. Eremets, I.A. Trojan, S.A. Medvedev, J.S. Tse, Y. Yao, Science 319, 1506 (2008)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. X.J. Chen, V.V. Struzhkin, Y. Song, A.F. Goncharov, M. Ahart, Z. Liu, H.k. Mao, R.J. Hemley, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 105, 20 (2008)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. D.Y. Kim, R.H. Scheicher, S. Lebgue, J. Prasongkit, B. Arnaud, M. Alouani, R. Ahuja, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 105, 16454 (2008)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. S. Wang, H.k. Mao, X.J. Chen, W.L. Mao, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 106, 14763 (2009)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. M. Hanfland, J.E. Proctor, C.L. Guillaume, O. Degtyareva, E. Gregoryanz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 095503 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. D.Y. Kim, R.H. Scheicher, C.J. Pickard, R.J. Needs, R. Ahuja, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 117002 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. J.A. Flores-Livas, M. Amsler, T.J. Lenosky, L. Lehtovaara, S. Botti, M.A.L. Marques, S. Goedecker, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 117004 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. D. Duan, Y. Liu, F. Tian, D. Li, X. Huang, Z. Zhao, H. Yu, B. Liu, W. Tian, T. Cui, Sci. Rep. 4, 6968 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. A.P. Drozdov, M.I. Eremets, I.A. Troyan, V. Ksenofontov, S.I. Shylin, Nature 525, 73 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. I. Troyan, A. Gavriliuk, R. Rüffer, A. Chumakov, A. Mironovich, I. Lyubutin, D. Perekalin, A.P. Drozdov, M.I. Eremets, Science 351, 1303 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. M. Einaga, M. Sakata, T. Ishikawa, K. Shimizu, M.I. Eremets, A.P. Drozdov, I.A. Troyan, N. Hirao, Y. Ohishi, Nat. Phys. 12, 835 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. I. Errea, M. Calandra, C.J. Pickard, J. Nelson, R.J. Needs, Y. Li, H. Liu, Y. Zhang, Y. Ma, F. Mauri, Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 157004 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. C. Heil, L. Boeri, Phys. Rev. B 92, 060508 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. R. Akashi, W. Sano, R. Arita, S. Tsuneyuki, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 075503 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. A.J. Flores-Livas, A. Sanna, E. Gross, Eur. Phys. J. B 89, 63 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. J.A. Flores-Livas, A. Sanna, S. Goedecker, Novel Supercond. Mater. 3, 6 (2017)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. A. Drozdov, M.I. Eremets, I.A. Troyan, arXiv:1508.06224 (2015)

  23. J.A. Flores-Livas, M. Amsler, C. Heil, A. Sanna, L. Boeri, G. Profeta, C. Wolverton, S. Goedecker, E.K.U. Gross, Phys. Rev. B 93, 020508 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. V.V. Struzhkin, M.I. Eremets, W. Gan, H.k. Mao, R.J. Hemley, Science 298, 1213 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. Y. Li, G. Gao, Y. Xie, Y. Ma, T. Cui, G. Zou, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 107, 15708 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. K. Shimizu, K. Amaya, N. Suzuki, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn 74, 1345 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. G. Profeta, C. Franchini, N. Lathiotakis, A. Floris, A. Sanna, M.A.L. Marques, M. Lüders, S. Massidda, E.K.U. Gross, A. Continenza, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 047003 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. J.A. Flores-Livas, A. Sanna, A.P. Drozdov, L. Boeri, G. Profeta, M. Eremets, S. Goedecker, Phys. Rev. Mater. 1, 024802 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. J. Flores-Livas, Computational and experimental studies of sp3-materials at high pressure, Ph.D. thesis, Lyon 1, 2012

  30. W. Grochala, R. Hoffmann, J. Feng, N.W. Ashcroft, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed 46, 3620 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. O. Degtyareva, J.E. Proctor, C.L. Guillaume, E. Gregoryanz, M. Hanfland, Solid State Commun. 149, 1583 (2009)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  32. C.F. Richardson, N.W. Ashcroft, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 118 (1997)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  33. P. Cudazzo, G. Profeta, A. Sanna, A. Floris, A. Continenza, S. Massidda, E.K.U. Gross, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 257001 (2008)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  34. P. Cudazzo, G. Profeta, A. Sanna, A. Floris, A. Continenza, S. Massidda, E.K.U. Gross, Phys. Rev. B 81, 134505 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  35. P. Cudazzo, G. Profeta, A. Sanna, A. Floris, A. Continenza, S. Massidda, E.K.U. Gross, Phys. Rev. B 81, 134506 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  36. M.I. Eremets, I.A. Troyan, Nat. Mat. 10, 927 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. P. Loubeyre, F. Occelli, R. LeToullec, Nature 416, 13 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. I.I. Naumov, R.J. Hemley, Acc. Chem. Res. 47, 3551 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. C.S. Zha, Z. Liu, R. Hemley, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 146402 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  40. X.D. Liu, P. Dalladay-Simpson, R.T. Howie, B. Li, E. Gregoryanz, Science 357, eaan2286 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. R.P. Dias, I.F. Silvera, Science, 355, 715 (2017)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  42. M. Eremets, I. Troyan, A. Drozdov, arXiv:1601.04479 (2016)

  43. M. Zaghoo, A. Salamat, I.F. Silvera, Phys. Rev. B 93, 155128 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  44. A.L. Ruoff, H. Luo, Y.K. Vohra, J. Appl. Phys. 69, 6413 (1991)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  45. E. Gamboa et al., Band gap opening in strongly compressed diamond observed by X-ray energy loss spectroscopy, Technical report, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States) (2016)

  46. R.J. Hemley, High Press. Res. 30, 581 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  47. L. Zhang, Y. Wang, J. Lv, Y. Ma, Nat. Rev. Mater. 2, 17005 (2017)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  48. E.A. Ekimov, V.A. Sidorov, E.D. Bauer, N.N. Mel’nik, N.J. Curro, J.D. Thompson, S.M. Stishov, Nature 428, 542 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  49. E. Bustarret et al., Nature 444, 465 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  50. T. Herrmannsdörfer, V. Heera, O. Ignatchik, M. Uhlarz, A. Mücklich, M. Posselt, H. Reuther, B. Schmidt, K.H. Heinig, W. Skorupa, M. Voelskow, C. Wündisch, R. Skrotzki, M. Helm, J. Wosnitza, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 217003 (2009)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  51. G. Savini, A.C. Ferrari, F. Giustino, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 037002 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  52. J.A. Flores-Livas, A. Sanna, M. Grauzinyte, A. Davydov, S. Goedecker, M.A.L. Marques, Sci. Rep. 7, 6825 (2017)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  53. G.R. Stewart, Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1589 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  54. H. Hosono, A. Yamamoto, H. Hiramatsu, Y. Ma, Mater. Today 21, 278 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. J.A. Flores-Livas, R. Debord, S. Botti, A. San Miguel, S. Pailhès, M.A.L. Marques, Phys. Rev. B 84, 184503 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  56. J.A. Flores-Livas, R. Debord, S. Botti, A. San Miguel, M.A.L. Marques, S. Pailhès, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 087002 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  57. P.A. Lee, N. Nagaosa, X.G. Wen, Rev. Mod. Phys. 78, 17 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  58. Y. Cao, V. Fatemi, S. Fang, K. Watanabe, T. Taniguchi, E. Kaxiras, P. Jarillo-Herrero, Nature 556, 43 (2018)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  59. A. Sanna, C. Franchini, A. Floris, G. Profeta, N.N. Lathiotakis, M. Lüders, M.A.L. Marques, E.K.U. Gross, A. Continenza, S. Massidda, Phys. Rev. B 73, 144512 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  60. J.A. Flores-Livas, A. Sanna, Phys. Rev. B 91, 054508 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  61. A. Sanna, J.A. Flores-Livas, A. Davydov, G. Profeta, K. Dewhurst, S. Sharma, E. Gross, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn 87, 041012 (2018)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  62. M. Thiery, J. Leger, J. Chem. Phys. 89, 4255 (1988)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  63. L. Ciabini, F.A. Gorelli, M. Santoro, R. Bini, V. Schettino, M. Mezouar, Phys. Rev. B 72, 094108 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  64. L. Ciabini, M. Santoro, F.A. Gorelli, R. Bini, V. Schettino, S. Raugei, Nat. Mater. 6, 39 (2007)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  65. D. Chelazzi, M. Ceppatelli, M. Santoro, R. Bini, V. Schettino, Nat. Mater. 3, 470 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  66. Y. Wang et al., J. Chem. Phys. C 120, 29510 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  67. S. Goedecker, J. Chem. Phys. 120, 9911 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  68. M. Amsler, S. Goedecker, J. Chem. Phys. 133, 224104 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  69. M. Amsler et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 065501 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  70. M. Amsler, J.A. Flores-Livas, T.D. Huan, S. Botti, M.A. Marques, S. Goedecker, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 205505 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  71. M. Sicher, S. Mohr, S. Goedecker, J. Chem. Phys. 134, 044106 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  72. F. Jensen, Introduction to Computational Chemistry, 2nd edn. (JW, 2011)

  73. A.D. McNaught, A.D. McNaught, in Compendium of chemical terminology (Blackwell Science Oxford, 1997), Vol. 1669

  74. X.D. Wen, R. Hoffmann, N. Ashcroft, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 133, 9023 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  75. L. Boeri, J. Kortus, O.K. Andersen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 237002 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  76. D. Hapiuk, M. Marques, P. Mélinon, S. Botti, B. Masenelli, J. Flores-Livas, New J. Phys. 17, 043034 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  77. D. Hapiuk, M.A. Marques, P. Melinon, J.A. Flores-Livas, S. Botti, B. Masenelli, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 115903 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  78. A. Sanna, A.V. Fedorov, N.I. Verbitskiy, J. Fink, C. Krellner, L. Petaccia, A. Chikina, D.Y. Usachov, A. Grüneis, G. Profeta, 2D Materials 3, 025031 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  79. G. Profeta, M. Calandra, F. Mauri, Nat. Phys. 8, 131 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  80. K. Ueno, S. Nakamura, H. Shimotani, H.T. Yuan, N. Kimura, T. Nojima, H. Aoki, Y. Iwasa, M. Kawasaki, Nat. Nanotechnol. 6, 408 EP (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  81. M. Graužinytė, S. Goedecker, J.A. Flores-Livas, Chem. Mater. 29, 10095 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  82. W.L. McMillan, Phys. Rev. 167, 331 (1968)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  83. P.B. Allen, B. Mitrović, Theory of Superconducting Tc, in Solid State Physics (Academic Press, 1983), Vol. 37

  84. P. Morel, P.W. Anderson, Phys. Rev. 125, 1263 (1962)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  85. D. Bassett, in Developments in crystalline polymers-1 (Springer, 1982), pp. 115–150

  86. M. Yasuniwa, R. Enoshita, T. Takemura, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 15, 1421 (1976)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  87. L. Fontana, D.Q. Vinh, M. Santoro, S. Scandolo, F. Gorelli, R. Bini, M. Hanfland, Phys. Rev. B 75, 174112 (2007)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  88. L. Fontana, M. Santoro, R. Bini, D.Q. Vinh, S. Scandolo, J. Chem. Phys. 133, 204502 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  89. J.P. Perdew, K. Burke, M. Ernzerhof, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 3865 (1996)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  90. G. Kresse, J. Furthmüller, Comput. Mater. Sci. 6, 15 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  91. T. Björkman, Comput. Phys. Commun. 182, 1183 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  92. S. Baroni, P. Giannozzi, A. Testa, Phys. Rev. Lett. 58, 1861 (1987)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  93. X. Gonze, J.P. Vigneron, Phys. Rev. B 39, 13120 (1989)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  94. X. Gonze, F. Jollet, F.A. Araujo, D. Adams, B. Amadon, T. Applencourt, C. Audouze, J.M. Beuken, J. Bieder, A. Bokhanchuk, E. Bousquet, F. Bruneval, D. Caliste, M. Côté, F. Dahm, F.D. Pieve, M. Delaveau, M.D. Gennaro, B. Dorado, C. Espejo, G. Geneste, L. Genovese, A. Gerossier, M. Giantomassi, Y. Gillet, D. Hamann, L. He, G. Jomard, J.L. Janssen, S.L. Roux, A. Levitt, A. Lherbier, F. Liu, I. Lukacevic, A. Martin, C. Martins, M. Oliveira, S. Poncé, Y. Pouillon, T. Rangel, G.M. Rignanese, A. Romero, B. Rousseau, O. Rubel, A. Shukri, M. Stankovski, M. Torrent, M.V. Setten, B.V. troeye, M. Verstraete, D. Waroquier, J. Wiktor, B. Xue, A. Zhou, J. Zwanziger, Comput. Phys. Commun. 205, 106 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  95. C.J. Pickard, R.J. Needs, Nat. Phys. 3, 473 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Universität Basel, Klingelbergstr. 82, 4056, Basel, Switzerland

    José A. Flores-Livas & Miglė Graužinytė

  2. Department of Physics, Sapienza Universita’ di Roma, Rome, Italy

    Lilia Boeri

  3. Dipartimento di Fisica Università degli Studi di L’Aquila and SPIN-CNR, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy

    Gianni Profeta

  4. Max-Planck Institut für Microstrukture Physics, Weinberg 2, 06120, Halle, Germany

    Antonio Sanna

Authors
  1. José A. Flores-Livas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Miglė Graužinytė
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Lilia Boeri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Gianni Profeta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Antonio Sanna
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to José A. Flores-Livas.

Additional information

Contribution to the Topical Issue “Special issue in honor of Hardy Gross”, edited by C.A. Ullrich, F.M.S. Nogueira, A. Rubio, and M.A.L. Marques.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Flores-Livas, J.A., Graužinytė, M., Boeri, L. et al. Superconductivity in doped polyethylene at high pressure. Eur. Phys. J. B 91, 176 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2018-90185-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2018-90185-6

Search

Navigation