Superconductivity with Tc 116 K discovered in antimony polyhydrides

Abstract

Abstract Superconductivity (SC) was experimentally observed for the first time in antimony polyhydride. The diamond anvil cell combined with laser heating system was used to synthesize the antimony polyhydride sample at high pressure and high temperature conditions. In-situ high pressure transport measurements as function of temperature with applied magnet are performed to study the SC properties. It was found that the antimony polyhydride samples show superconducting transition with critical temperature Tc 116 K at 184 GPa. The investigation of SC at magnetic field revealed that the superconducting coherent length ∼40 Å based on Ginzburg Landau (GL) equation. Antimony polyhydride superconductor has the second highest Tc in addition to sulfur hydride among the polyhydrides of elements from main group IIIA to VIIA in periodic table.