Electronic Structure of ZnCNi3

Abstract

According to a recent report by Park et al, ZnCNi3 is isostructural and isovalent to the superconducting (Tc = 8 K) anti-perovskite, MgCNi3, but shows no indication of a superconducting transition down to 2K. A comparison of calculated electronic structures shows that the main features of MgCNi3, particularly the van Hove singularity near the Fermi energy, are preserved in ZnCNi3. Thus the reported lack of superconductivity in ZnCNi3 is not explainable in terms of Tc being driven to a very low value by a small Fermi level density of states. We propose that the lack of superconductivity, the small value of the linear specific heat coefficient, gamma, and the discrepancy between theoretical and experimental lattice constants can all be explained if the material is assumed to be a C-deficient alpha-ZnCNi3 similar to the analogous non-superconducting phase of MgCNi3.

References in corpus (5)

• BCS-like Superconductivity in MgCNi3
• Carbon Concentration Dependence of the Superconducting Transition Temperature and Structure of MgCxNi3
• Superconductivity near the vibrational mode instability in MgCNi3
• Influence of Carbon Concentration on the Superconductivity in MgCxNi3
• Phonon spectrum and soft-mode behavior of MgCNi_3

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Crystal Symmetry, Electron-Phonon Coupling, and Superconducting Tendencies in Li${}_2$Pd${}_3$B and Li${}_2$Pt${}_3$B
• New anti-perovskite-type Superconductor ZnNyNi3
• Strong electron-phonon coupling in the rare-earth carbide superconductor La2C3
• Theoretical search for superconductivity in Sc3XB perovskites and weak ferromagnetism in Sc3X (X = Tl, In, Ga, Al)
• Elastic, electronic and optical properties of hypothetical SnNNi3 and CuNNi3 in comparison with superconducting ZnNNi3
• The role of carbon for superconductivity in MgC${}_x$Ni${}_3$ from specific heat
• A first-principles comparison of the electronic properties of MgC_{y}Ni_{3} and ZnC_{y}Ni_{3} alloys
• Machine-learning Guided Search for Phonon-mediated Superconductivity in Boron and Carbon Compounds