Prediction of Superconductivity in Potassium-Doped Benzene

Abstract

To explore underlying mechanism for the superconducting phase in recent discovered aromatic hydrocarbons, we carry out the first-principles calculations on benzene, the basic and the simplest unit of the series and examine the structural and phase stability when doped by potassium, K${}_x$C${}_6$H${}_6$ ($x=1,2,3$). We find that K${}_2$C${}_6$H${}_6$ with the space group of $Pbca$ is the most stable phase with superconducting transition temperature around 6.2 K. Moreover, we argue that all existing hydrocarbons should have a unified superconducting phase in the same temperature range of 5$-$7 K, when doped by two potassium atoms. Our results indicate that the electron-phonon interaction is enough to account for the superconductivity of this unified superconducting phase.

5 pages, 4 figures