Superconductor Pb${}_{10-x}$Cu${}_x$(PO${}_4$)${}_6$O showing levitation at room temperature and atmospheric pressure and mechanism

Abstract

A material called LK-99, a modified-lead apatite crystal structure with the composition Pb${}_{10-x}$Cu${}_x$(PO${}_4$)${}_6$O ($0.9<x<1.1$), has been synthesized using the solid-state method. The material exhibits the Ohmic metal characteristic of Pb(6s1) above its superconducting critical temperature, $T_c$, and the levitation phenomenon as Meissner effect of a superconductor at room temperature and atmospheric pressure below $T_c$. A LK-99 sample shows $T_c$ above 126.85${}^{\circ }$C (400 K). We analyze that the possibility of room-temperature superconductivity in this material is attributed to two factors: the first being the volume contraction resulting from an insulator-metal transition achieved by substituting Pb with Cu, and the second being on-site repulsive Coulomb interaction enhanced by the structural deformation in the one-dimensional(D) chain (Cu${}^{2+}$-O${}_{1/2}$-Cu${}^{2+}$ along the c-axis) structure owing to superconducting condensation at $T_c$. The mechanism of the room-temperature $T_c$ is discussed by 1-D BR-BCS theory.

18 pages, 7 figures

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