Novel Hard and Unusual Superconducting Monoclinic Phase of FeB2C2: An Ab Initio Evolutionary Study

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Researchers at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand, have made a groundbreaking discovery in the field of applied physics. Through an extensive ab initio evolutionary investigation, the team has identified a novel hard and unusual superconducting monoclinic phase of FeB2C2, a compound that exhibits significant superconducting temperature exceeding 6 K. This finding is a significant contribution to the understanding of the Fe-B-C system and opens up new avenues for investigating other metal borocarbides and related ternary compounds.

Key Takeaways:

  • The researchers conducted an ab initio evolutionary investigation to search for stable polymorphs of iron diborocarbides with the formula FeB2C2, FeB3C, and FeBC3.
  • The lowest energetic structure of FeB2C2 is a semimetallic monoclinic phase with a space group (s.g.) of C2/m, and a metastable metallic phase of FeB2C2 is an orthorhombic structure with s.g. of Pmmm.
  • The predicted structures of FeB3C and FeBC3 are dynamically and elastically stable, verified without negative phonon frequency and Born criteria, respectively.
  • The C2/m-FeB2C2 phase is a superconductor with a significant superconducting temperature (T-c) exceeding 6 K.
  • The research has been peer-reviewed and published in the Journal of Applied Physics.
  • The study was funded by the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, Thailand Science Research and Innovation (TSRI), and Thailand Science Research and Innovation Fund Chulalongkorn University.

Statistics:

  • The Vickers hardness (H-v) of the orthorhombic phase of FeB2C2 is 22.40 GPa.
  • The Vickers hardness (H-v) of the monoclinic phase of FeB2C2 is 27.52 GPa.
  • The superconducting temperature (T-c) of the C2/m-FeB2C2 phase exceeds 6 K.

Sources:

  • Novel Hard and Unusual Superconducting Monoclinic Phase of FeB2C2: an ab Initio Evolutionary Study. Journal of Applied Physics, 2024;135(22).
  • King Mongkut's Institute of Technology, Coll Adv Mfg Innovat, Bangkok 10520, Thailand.
  • Thailand Science Research and Innovation (TSRI).
  • Thailand Science Research and Innovation Fund Chulalongkorn University.