paper

Electron- and hole-doping on ScH and YH: Effects on superconductivity without applied pressure

arXiv:2106.10379 · doi:10.1088/1361-648X/ac17ae

Abstract

We present the evolution of the structural, electronic, and lattice dynamical properties, as well as the electron-phonon coupling and superconducting critical temperature () of ScH and YH metal hydrides solid solutions, as a function of the electron- and hole-doping content. The study was performed within the density functional perturbation theory, taking into account the effect of zero-point energy through the quasi-harmonic approximation, and the solid solutions ScH (=Ca,Ti) and YH (=Sr,Zr) were modeled by the virtual crystal approximation. We have found that, under hole-doping (=Ca,Sr), the ScH and YH hydrides do not improve their electron-phonon coupling properties, sensed by . Instead, by electron-doping (=Ti,Zr), the systems reach a critical content where the latent coupling is triggered, increasing as high as , in comparison with its value. Our results show that quickly decreases as a function of on the hole-doping region, from to , collapsing at the end. Alternatively, for electron-doping, first decreases steadily until , reaching its minimum, but for it increases rapidly, reaching its maximum value of the entire range at the ScTiH and YZrH solid solutions, demonstrating that electron-doping can improve the superconducting properties of pristine metal hydrides, in the absence of applied pressure.

8 pages, 8 figures

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