Pressure-enhanced superconductivity in cage-type quasiskutterudite Sc5Rh6Sn18 single crystal. (15th June 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lingannan, Govindaraj; Joseph, Boby; Sundaramoorthy, Muthukumaran; Kuo, Chia Nung; Lue, Chin Shan; Arumugam, Sonachalam
• Is Part Of: Journal of physics. Volume 34:Number 24(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-06-15
• Subjects: Sc5Rh6Sn18 superconductor -- pressure effect on Tc -- high-pressure diffraction -- high-pressure Raman; Condensed matter -- Periodicals; Matière condensée -- Périodiques; Vaste stoffen; Vloeistoffen; Natuurkunde; Electronic journals; Computer network resources; 530.4105
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-648X/ac61b6
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0953-8984

Abstract

Abstract: Sc5 Rh6 Sn18 with a cage-type quasiskutterudite crystal lattice and type II superconductivity, with superconducting transition temperature T c = 4.99 K, was investigated under hydrostatic high-pressure (HP) using electrical transport, synchrotron x-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. Our data show that HP enhance the metallic nature and T c of the system. T c is found to show a continuous increase reaching to 5.24 K at 2.5 GPa. Although the system is metallic in nature, Raman spectroscopy investigations at ambient pressure revealed the presence of three weak modes at 165.97, 219.86 and 230.35 cm −1, mostly related to the rattling atom Sc. The HP-XRD data revealed that the cage structure was stable without any structural phase transition up to ∼7 GPa. The lattice parameters and volume exhibited a smooth decrease without any anomalies as a function of pressure in this pressure range. In particular, a second order Birch–Murnaghan equation of state can describe the pressure dependence of the unit cell volume well, yielding a bulk modulus of ∼97 GPa. HP Raman investigations revealed a linear shift of all the three Raman modes to higher wavenumbers with increasing pressure up to ∼8 GPa. As the pressure enhances the bond overlap, thus inducing more electronic charges into the system, HP-XRD and Raman results may indicate the possibility of obtaining higher T c with increasing pressures in this pressure range.