arXiv subjects

Wencheng Lu

Publications and source records attributed to Wencheng Lu.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Pressure-induced Superconductivity in AgSbTe2

AgSbTe2 is a well-known thermoelectric material with a high Seebeck coefficient and intrinsically low thermal conductivity, but its behavior under pressure remains largely unexplored. Here we report a systematic investigation of the structural, electronic, and transport properties of non-stoichiometric AgSbTe2 under high pressure. At ambient pressure, the material can be described as having a cubic crystal structure that remains stable up to 21.7 GPa beyond which it loses long-range structural order, while its crystal system fully recovers upon decompression. Remarkably, superconductivity emerges at a very low pressure of 0.38 GPa with an onset superconducting critical temperature (Tc) of 3.2 K. Tc increases with increasing pressure, reaching 6.9 K at 31.9 GPa, and peaks at 7.4 K during decompression. Magnetic-field-dependent transport measurements and electronic structure calculations reveal an evolution of the superconducting state driven by an enhanced electronic density of states at the Fermi level under compression. Our findings uncover pressure-induced superconductivity in AgSbTe2 and demonstrate that pressure can effectively tune the electronic ground state of thermoelectric materials, extending their functionality beyond thermoelectric energy conversion.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2026

High-pressure stabilization of Mg2IrH7: Structural proximity to high-Tc superconductivity

Mg$_2$IrH$_6$ is a metastable complex metal hydride with a predicted superconducting transition temperature as high as 170 K at ambient pressure. Following the synthesis of isomorphic, insulating Mg$_2$IrH$_5$ at low pressure, higher-pressure studies were conducted to investigate the phase behavior and compound formation in this system. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopic measurements indicate that cubic Mg$_2$IrH$_7$ is stabilized above ca. 40 GPa and coexists with a related hexagonal hydride with likely composition near Mg$_2$IrH$_5$. Electrical transport measurements show that the cubic Mg$_2$IrH$_7$ is insulating, in agreement with ab initio predictions, and persists during room-temperature decompression until $\sim$20 GPa before reverting back to the cubic Mg$_2$IrH$_5$. The experimental results confirm ground-state structure predictions in the Mg-Ir-H system, and the formation of two nearly identical phases with surrounding compositions opens new opportunities to access superconducting Mg$_2$IrH$_6$ through non-equilibrium processing pathways.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2026

Inverse Isotope Effect in the Ternary Perovskite Hydride SrPdH/D$_{2.9}$: A Signature of Quantum Zero-Point Fluctuations

Guided by first-principles calculations, we demonstrate superconductivity in the ternary perovskite hydride SrPdH$_{3-x}$, synthesized at low pressure. Structural characterization via neutron diffraction reveals the near-stoichiometric composition SrPdD$_{2.9(2)}$ with 96\% deuterium site occupancy. Subsequent transport and magnetic susceptibility measurements establish onset superconducting transitions at $T_\text{c} = \SI{2.1}{K} $ (H) and $T_\text{c} = \SI{2.2}{K} $ (D), exhibiting an inverse isotope effect that our first-principles calculations attribute predominantly to quantum zero-point motion. The excellent agreement between theory and experiment with respect to thermodynamic stability and superconducting properties provides important validation for theory-guided superconductor discovery. This work establishes superconductivity in the perovskite hydride structural prototype -- expanding the limited family of experimentally realized ternary hydride superconductors -- and demonstrates the importance of quantum nuclear motion on the accurate theoretical treatment of low-pressure hydride superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

Prediction and Synthesis of Mg$_4$Pt$_3$H$_6$: A Metallic Complex Transition Metal Hydride Stabilized at Ambient Pressure

The low-pressure stabilization of superconducting hydrides with high critical temperatures ($T_c$s) remains a significant challenge, and experimentally verified superconducting hydrides are generally constrained to a limited number of structural prototypes. Ternary transition-metal complex hydrides (hydrido complexes)-typically regarded as hydrogen storage materials-exhibit a large range of compounds stabilized at low pressure with recent predictions for high-$T_c$ superconductivity. Motivated by this class of materials, we investigated complex hydride formation in the Mg-Pt-H system, which has no known ternary hydride compounds. Guided by ab initio structural predictions, we successfully synthesized a novel complex transition-metal hydride, Mg$_4$Pt$_3$H$_6$, using laser-heated diamond anvil cells. The compound forms in a body-centered cubic structural prototype at moderate pressures between 8-25 GPa. Unlike the majority of known hydrido complexes, Mg$_4$Pt$_3$H$_6$ is metallic, with formal charge described as 4[Mg]$^{2+}$.3[PtH$_2$]$^{2-}$. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements obtained during decompression reveal that Mg$_4$Pt$_3$H$_6$ remains stable upon quenching to ambient conditions. Magnetic-field and temperature-dependent electrical transport measurements indicate ambient-pressure superconductivity with $T_c$ (50%) = 2.9 K, in reasonable agreement with theoretical calculations. These findings clarify the phase behavior in the Mg-Pt-H system and provide valuable insights for transition-metal complex hydrides as a new class of hydrogen-rich superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Prediction of fully metallic σ-bonded boron framework induced high superconductivity above 100 K in thermodynamically stable Sr2B5 at 40 GPa

Metal borides have been considered as potential high-temperature superconductors since the discovery of record-holding 39 K superconductivity in bulk MgB2. In this work, we identified a superconducting yet thermodynamically stable F43m Sr2B5 at 40 GPa with a unique covalent sp3-hybridized boron framework through extensive first-principles structure searches. Remarkably, solving the anisotropic Migdal-Eliashberg equations resulted in a high superconducting critical temperature (Tc) around 100 K, exceeding the boiling point (77 K) of liquid nitrogen. Our in-depth analysis revealed that the high-temperature superconductivity mainly originates from the strong coupling between the metalized σ-bonded electronic bands and E phonon modes of boron atoms. Moreover, anharmonic phonon simulations suggest that F43m Sr2B5 might be recovered to ambient pressure. Our current findings provide a prototype structure with a full σ-bonded boron framework for the design of high-Tc superconducting borides that may expand to a broader variety of lightweight compounds.

cond-mat.supr-con↗