Hydrogen-based superconductors

Funded by The ERC Starting Grant of Ion Errea: Discovery and Characterization of Hydrogen-Based High-Temperature Superconductors (SuperH).

Since the 2015 experimental discovery of superconductivity above 200 K at high pressures, it is clear that hydrogen-based compounds can be high-temperature superconductors, at least at megabar pressures. Also, that ab initio calculations can guide experimental discoveries in this field. In fact, many of the discoveries in this field have been anticipated theoretically.

In this research line we aim at discovering new high-temperature superconductors of this family, with a special focus on compounds that may be stable or metastable at low, even ambient, pressures. We are performing a thorough characterization of these type of superconductors in order to understand when and why hydrogen compounds reach high critical temperatures. Our predictions of new compounds take into account ionic quantum effects, which are expected to be crucial to make high-temperature hydrogen-based superconductors stable or metastable at low pressures. 

People involved in this line of research

  • Ion Errea

    Ion Errea

    Group leader

  • Đorđe Dangić

    Postdoc

  • Yuewen Fang

    Postdoc
Meet all the team

Publications in this research line

Prediction of ambient pressure conventional superconductivity above 80 K in hydride compounds

Antonio Sanna, Tiago F. T. Cerqueira, Yue-Wen Fang, Ion Errea, Alfred Ludwig and Miguel A. L. Marques
npj Computational Materials 10, 44 (2024)

Ab initio study of the structural, vibrational, and optical properties of potential parent structures of nitrogen-doped lutetium hydride

Đorđe Dangić, Peio Garcia-Goiricelaya, Yue-Wen Fang, Julen Ibañez-Azpiroz and Ion Errea
Physical Review B 108, 064517 (2023)

Ab initio study of hydrogen based superconducting compounds at ambient pressure

Antonella Meninno
PhD thesis (2023)

Quantum structural fluxion in superconducting lanthanum polyhydride

Hui Wang, Pascal T. Salzbrenner, Ion Errea, Feng Peng, Ziheng Lu, Hanyu Liu, Li Zhu, Chris J. Pickard and Yansun Yao
Nature Communications 14, 1674 (2023)

Ab initio study of metastable occupation of tetrahedral sites in palladium hydrides and its impact on superconductivity

Antonella Meninno and Ion Errea
Physical Review B 107, 024504 (2023)

Characterization of hydrogen based superconductors from first principles

Francesco Belli
PhD thesis (2022)

Absence of sizable superconductivity in hydrogen boride: A first-principles study

Antonella Meninno and Ion Errea
Physical Review B 106, 214508 (2022)

Impact of ionic quantum fluctuations on the thermodynamic stability and superconductivity of LaBH8

Francesco Belli and Ion Errea
Physical Review B 106, 134509 (2022)

Superconducting hydrides on a quantum landscape

Ion Errea
Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 34, 231501 (2022)

The 2021 room-temperature superconductivity roadmap

Lilia Boeri, Richard Hennig, Peter Hirschfeld, Gianni Profeta, Antonio Sanna, Eva Zurek, Warren E. Pickett, Maximilian Amsler, Ranga P. Dias, Mikhail I. Eremets, Christoph Heil, Russell J. Hemley, Hanyu Liu, Yanming Ma, Carlo Pierleoni, Aleksey N. Kolmogorov, Nikita Rybin, Dmitry Novoselov, Vladimir Anisimov, Artem R. Oganov, Chris J. Pickard, Tiange Bi, Ryotaro Arita, Ion Errea, Camilla Pellegrini, Ryan Requist, E. K. U. Gross, Elena Roxana Margine, Stephen R. Xie, Yundi Quan, Ajinkya Hire, Laura Fanfarillo, G. R. Stewart, J. J. Hamlin, Valentin Stanev, Renato S. Gonnelli, Erik Piatti, Davide Romanin, Dario Daghero and Roser Valenti
Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 34, 183002 (2022)

Strong correlation between electronic bonding network and critical temperature in hydrogen-based superconductors

Francesco Belli, Trinidad Novoa, J. Contreras-García and Ion Errea
Nature Communications 12, 5381 (2021)

Strong anharmonic and quantum effects in Pm-3n AlH3 under high pressure: A first-principles study

Pugeng Hou, Francesco Belli, Raffaello Bianco and Ion Errea
Physical Review B 103, 134305 (2021)

Anomalous High-Temperature Superconductivity in YH6

Ivan A. Troyan, Dmitrii V. Semenok, Alexander G. Kvashnin, Andrey V. Sadakov, Oleg A. Sobolevskiy, Vladimir M. Pudalov, Anna G. Ivanova, Vitali B. Prakapenka, Eran Greenberg, Alexander G. Gavriliuk, Igor S. Lyubutin, Viktor V. Struzhkin, Aitor Bergara, Ion Errea, Raffaello Bianco, Matteo Calandra, Francesco Mauri, Lorenzo Monacelli, Ryosuke Akashi and Artem R. Oganov
Advanced Materials 33, 2006832 (2021)

Black metal hydrogen above 360 GPa driven by proton quantum fluctuations

Lorenzo Monacelli, Ion Errea, Matteo Calandra and Francesco Mauri
Nature Physics 17, 63 (2021)

Quantum anharmonic enhancement of superconductivity in P63/mmc ScH6 at high pressures: A first-principles study

Pugeng Hou, Francesco Belli, Raffaello Bianco and Ion Errea
Journal of Applied Physics 130, 175902 (2021)

Quantum crystal structure in the 250-kelvin superconducting lanthanum hydride

Ion Errea, Francesco Belli, Lorenzo Monacelli, Antonio Sanna, Takashi Koretsune, Terumasa Tadano, Raffaello Bianco, Matteo Calandra, Ryotaro Arita, Francesco Mauri and José A. Flores-Livas
Nature 578, 66 (2020)

Superconducting Hydrides Under Pressure

Chris J. Pickard, Ion Errea and Mikhail I. Eremets
Annual Review of Condensed Matter Physics 11, 57 (2020)

Ab initio study of the LiH phase diagram at extreme pressures and temperatures.

Sananda Biswas, Ion Errea, Matteo Calandra, Francesco Mauri and Sandro Scandolo
Physical Review B 99, 024106 (2019)

Strong Electron-Phonon and Band Structure Effects in the Optical Properties of High Pressure Metallic Hydrogen

Miguel Borinaga, Julen Ibañez-Azpiroz, Aitor Bergara and Ion Errea
Physical Review Letters 120, 057402 (2018)

High-pressure phase diagram of hydrogen and deuterium sulfides from first principles: Structural and vibrational properties including quantum and anharmonic effects

Raffaello Bianco, Ion Errea, Matteo Calandra and Francesco Mauri
Physical Review B 97, 214101 (2018)

Hydrogen and lithium under high pressure. Superconductivity and other emerging properties

Miguel Borinaga
PhD thesis (2018)

Anharmonic enhancement of superconductivity in metallic molecular Cmca-4 hydrogen at high pressure: a first-principles study

Miguel Borinaga, P. Riego, A. Leonardo, Matteo Calandra, Francesco Mauri, Aitor Bergara and Ion Errea
Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 28, 494001 (2016)

Anharmonic effects in atomic hydrogen: Superconductivity and lattice dynamical stability

Miguel Borinaga, Ion Errea, Matteo Calandra, Francesco Mauri and Aitor Bergara
Physical Review B 93, 174308 (2016)

Quantum hydrogen-bond symmetrization in the superconducting hydrogen sulfide system

Ion Errea, Matteo Calandra, Chris J. Pickard, Joseph R. Nelson, Richard J. Needs, Yinwei Li, Hanyu Liu, Yunwei Zhang, Yanming Ma and Francesco Mauri
Nature 532, 81 (2016)

Dissociation products and structures of solid H2S at strong compression

Yinwei Li, Lin Wang, Hanyu Liu, Yunwei Zhang, Jian Hao, Chris J. Pickard, Joseph R. Nelson, Richard J. Needs, Wentao Li, Yanwei Huang, Ion Errea, Matteo Calandra, Francesco Mauri and Yanming Ma
Physical Review B 93, 020103(R) (2016)

High-Pressure Hydrogen Sulfide from First Principles: A Strongly Anharmonic Phonon-Mediated Superconductor

Ion Errea, Matteo Calandra, Chris J. Pickard, Joseph R. Nelson, Richard J. Needs, Yinwei Li, Hanyu Liu, Yunwei Zhang, Yanming Ma and Francesco Mauri
Physical Review Letters 114, 157004 (2015)

Huge anharmonic effects in superconducting hydrides and transition metal dichalcogenides

Ion Errea, Matteo Calandra and Francesco Mauri
Physica Status Solidi (b) 251, 2556 (2014)

Anharmonic free energies and phonon dispersions from the stochastic self-consistent harmonic approximation: Application to platinum and palladium hydrides

Ion Errea, Matteo Calandra and Francesco Mauri
Physical Review B 89, 064302 (2014)

First-Principles Theory of Anharmonicity and the Inverse Isotope Effect in Superconducting Palladium-Hydride Compounds

Ion Errea, Matteo Calandra and Francesco Mauri
Physical Review Letters 111, 177002 (2013)