Gui Xin, Xing Lingyi, Wang Xiaoxiong, Bian Guang, Jin Rongying, Xie Weiwei
Department of Applied Physics, Nanjing University of Science and Technology , Nanjing 210094, China.
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri , Columbia, Missouri 65211, United States.
Inorg Chem. 2018 Feb 19;57(4):1698-1701. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b02982. Epub 2018 Feb 7.
In the search for superconductivity in a BaAuSb-type monoclinic structure, we have successfully synthesized the new compound BaPtBi, which crystallizes in the space group P2/m (No. 11; Pearson symbol mP10) according to a combination of powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. A sharp electrical resistivity drop and large diamagnetic magnetization below 2.0 K indicates it owns superconducting ground state. This makes BaPtBi the first reported superconductor in a monoclinic BaAuSb-type structure, a previously unappreciated structure for superconductivity. First-principles calculations considering spin-orbit coupling indicate that Pt-Bi antibonding interaction plays a critical role in inducing superconductivity.
