New preprint announcement
Synthesis of Mg2IrH5 - A potential pathway to high-Tc hydride superconductivity at ambient pressure
Recent advancements have confirmed long-standing predictions about hydrogen’s potential in high-temperature superconductivity. Several hydride-based materials have now demonstrated superconducting properties at high temperatures. However, these high-Tc phases require extremely high pressures to exist, posing a significant challenge in achieving high transition temperatures at ambient pressure.
A breakthrough in this area involves the complex hydride Mg2IrH6. Recent predictions indicate that Mg2IrH6 could exhibit high-Tc superconductivity (65 K < Tc < 170 K) while being stable at atmospheric pressure [1,2]. This research targeted the synthesis of Mg2IrH6 across a wide range of pressure-temperature (P-T) conditions. The synthesized products were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and vibrational spectroscopy, supported by first-principles calculations.
In our most recent preprint (arXiv:2406.09538), we report results of our efforts to synthesize Mg2IrH6. Our findings reveal that Mg2IrH5, a charge-balanced complex hydride, is more stable than Mg2IrH6 under all tested conditions up to approximately 28 GPa. Interestingly, Mg2IrH5 is structurally similar to the predicted superconducting Mg2IrH6 phase, differing only by a single hydrogen vacancy. This vacancy can be favorably filled by hydrogen insertion, suggesting a path to creating superconducting Mg2IrH6.
Mg2IrH5 is easily synthesized under mild P-T conditions and may provide a practical platform for producing superconducting Mg2IrH6 through non-equilibrium processing methods. We are very excited about this and believe that this discovery marks a significant step towards achieving high-temperature superconductivity at ambient pressures.
