We report experimental discovery of tantalum polyhydride superconductor. It was synthesized under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions using diamond anvil cell combined with in situ high-pressure laser heating techniques. The superconductivity was investigated via resistance measurements at pressures. The highest superconducting transition temperature T c was found to be ∼ 30 K at 197 GPa in the sample that was synthesized at the same pressure with ∼ 2000 K heating. The transitions are shifted to low temperature upon applying magnetic fields that support the superconductivity nature. The upper critical field at zero temperature μ 0 H c2(0) of the superconducting phase is estimated to be ∼ 20 T that corresponds to Ginzburg–Landau coherent length ∼ 40 Å. Our results suggest that the superconductivity may arise from I 4 ¯ 3 d phase of TaH3. It is, for the first time to our best knowledge, experimental realization of superconducting hydrides for the VB group of transition metals.

The binary polyhydrides of heavy rare earth lutetium that shares a similar valence electron configuration to lanthanum have been experimentally discovered to be superconductive. The lutetium polyhydrides were successfully synthesized at high pressure and high temperature conditions using a diamond anvil cell in combinations with the in-situ high pressure laser heating technique. The resistance measurements as a function of temperature were performed at the same pressure of synthesis in order to study the transitions of superconductivity (SC). The superconducting transition with a maximum onset temperature (Tc) 71 K was observed at pressure of 218 GPa in the experiments. The Tc decreased to 65 K when pressure was at 181 GPa. From the evolution of SC at applied magnetic fields, the upper critical field at zero temperature μ _0H_c2(0) was obtained to be ∼36 T. The in-situ high pressure X-ray diffraction experiments imply that the high Tc SC should arise from the Lu4H23 phase with Pm3 n symmetry that forms a new type of hydrogen cage framework different from those reported for previous light rare earth polyhydride superconductors.

Superconductivity (SC) was experimentally observed for the first time in antimony polyhydride. The diamond anvil cell combined with laser heating system was used to synthesize the antimony polyhydride sample at high pressure and high temperature conditions. In-situ high pressure transport measurements as function of temperature with applied magnet are performed to study the SC properties. It was found that the antimony polyhydride samples show superconducting transition with critical temperature Tc 116 K at 184 GPa. The investigation of SC at magnetic field revealed that the superconducting coherent length 40 angstroms based on Ginzburg Landau (GL) equation. Antimony polyhydride superconductor has the second highest Tc in addition to sulfur hydride among the polyhydrides of elements from main group IIIA to VIIA in periodic table.

Superconductivity is one of most intriguing quantum phenomena, and the quest for elemental superconductors with high critical temperature ( T c ) is of great scientific significance due to their relatively simple material composition and the underlying mechanism. Here we report the experimental discovery of densely compressed scandium (Sc) becoming the first elemental superconductor with T c breaking into 30 K range, which is comparable to the T c values of the classic La–Ba–Cu–O or LaFeAsO superconductors. Our results show that T c onset of Sc increases from ∼ 3 K at around 43 GPa to ∼ 32 K at about 283 GPa ( T c zero ∼ 31 K), which is well above liquid neon temperature. Interestingly, measured T c shows no sign of saturation up to the maximum pressure achieved in our experiments, indicating that T c may be even higher upon further compression.

Searching for superconductivity with Tc near room temperature is of great interest both for fundamental science & potential applications. Here we report the experimental discovery of superconductivity with maximum critical temperature(Tc) above 210 K in calcium superhydrides, the third type hydride experimentally showing superconductivity above 200K in addition to sulfur hydride & rare earth hydride system. The materials are synthesized at the synergetic conditions of 160~190 GPa and ~2000K using diamond anvil cell combined with in-situ laser heating technique. The superconductivity was studied through in situ high pressure resistance measurements in applied magnetic field for the sample quenched from high temperature while maintained at the synthesized pressure. The upper critical field was estimated to be ~268T while the GL coherent length is ~11 Å. The in situ x ray diffractions with synchrotron suggest that the synthesized calcium hydrides are primarily composed of CaH6 while there also exist other calcium hydrids with different hydrogen.

It is challenging to search for high Tc superconductivity (SC) in transition metal elements wherein d electrons are usually not favored by conventional BCS theory. Here we report experimental discovery of surprising SC up to 310 GPa with Tc above 20 K in wide pressure range from 108 GPa to 240 GPa in titanium. The maximum Tconset above 26.2 K and zero resistance Tczero of 21 K are record high values hitherto achieved among element superconductors. The Hc2(0) is estimated to be ∼32 Tesla with coherence length 32 Å. The results show strong s-d transfer and d band dominance, indicating correlation driven contributions to high Tc SC in dense titanium. This finding is in sharp contrast to the theoretical predications based on pristine electron-phonon coupling scenario. The study opens a fresh promising avenue for rational design and discovery of high Tc superconductors among simple materials via pressure tuned unconventional mechanism.