Theory Department
Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics
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Flores Livas, J. A., Sanna, A., Grauzinyte, M., Davydov, A., Goedecker, S., Marques, M. A. L.

Emergence of superconductivity in doped H2O ice at high pressure
Scientific Reports 7, pp 6825/1-11 (2017)
We investigate the possibility of achieving high-temperature superconductivity in hydrides under pressure by inducing metallization of otherwise insulating phases through doping, a path previously used to render standard semiconductors superconducting at ambient pressure. Following this idea, we study H2O, one of the most abundant and well-studied substances, we identify nitrogen as the most likely and promising substitution/dopant. We show that for realistic levels of doping of a few percent, the phase X of ice becomes superconducting with a critical temperature of about 60 K at 150 GPa. In view of the vast number of hydrides that are strongly covalent bonded, but that remain insulating up to rather large pressures, our results open a series of new possibilities in the quest for novel high-temperature superconductors.

TH-2017-25