Multigap and high- <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>T</mml:mi> <mml:mi>c</mml:mi> </mml:msub> </mml:math> superconductivity in metal-atom-free borocarbides: Effects of dimensional confinement and strain eng
Pure borocarbides suffer from limited superconducting potential due to intrinsic structural instability, requiring transition/alkali metals as dual-functional stabilizers and dopants. Here, by combining high-throughput screening with anisotropic Migdal-Eliashberg theory, we identify dynamically stable borocarbides where high-${T}_{c}$ superconductivity predominately originates from $E$ symmetry-selective electron-phonon coupling (EPC). The six distinct superconducting gaps emerge from a staircase distribution or uncoupling of EPC strength $\ensuremath{\rho}({\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{k}^{el})$ across each Fermi surface sheet, constituting a metal-free system with such high gap multiplicity. Crucially, dimensional reduction from bulk to surface strengthens $E$-symmetry EPC and enhances ${T}_{c}$ from 32 K [three-dimensional (3D) bulk] to 75 K (2D surface), a result that highlights structural confinement as a key design strategy for observing high ${T}_{c}$. External strain further optimizes the competition between EPC strength and characteristic phonon frequency to achieve ${T}_{c}>90$ K. This work reveals a systematic correlation between structural dimensionality and gap multiplicity and establishes borocarbide as a tunable platform to engineer both high-${T}_{c}$ and multigap superconductivity.
Authors
- Zhen‐Guo Fu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2448-5562)
- Bao‐Tian Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4032-3344)
- Hong‐Yan Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4715-7489)
- Ning Hao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0213-7644)
- Hao-Dong Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-5516-9444)
- Huajie Song (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3972-2948)
- Ping Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1939-3943)
- Weiyi Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7953-9644)
Institutions
- Southwest University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Qufu Normal University (CN)
- China Academy of Engineering Physics (CN)
- Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (CN)
- High Magnetic Field Laboratory (CN)
- China Spallation Neutron Source (CN)
- Institute of High Energy Physics (CN)
- Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics (CN)
- Spallation Neutron Source
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical review. B./Physical review. B
- Published
- 2025-11-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/5vv3-qfzr
- Primary Topic
- Superconductivity in MgB2 and Alloys
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00