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High-pressure stabilization of Mg2IrH7: Structural proximity to a high-Tc superconducting phase

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Mg IrH is a metastable complex metal hydride with a predicted superconducting transition tem- perature as high as 170K at ambient pressure. Following the synthesis of isomorphic, insulating Mg IrH at low pressure, higher-pressure studies were conducted to investigate the phase behavior and compound formation in this system. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopic measure- ments, combined with ab initio calculations, support the formation of cubic Mg2IrH7 above ca. 40 GPa. This phase may coexist with a related hexagonal hydride with an estimated composition near Mg IrH . Electrical transport measurements suggest that cubic Mg IrH is insulating, in agreement with ab initio predictions, and persists during room-temperature decompression until ∼20GPa before reverting back to cubic Mg2IrH5. The experimental results support ground-state structure predictions in the Mg–Ir–H system, and the formation of two nearly identical phases with surrounding compositions may open new opportunities to access superconducting Mg IrH through non-equilibrium processing pathways.

Source: Apollo (University of Cambridge)

DOI: 10.17863/cam.135481

Authors: Sinha, Shubham, Lu, Wencheng, Hansen, Mads, Hutcheon, Michael, Bontke, Trevor, Conway, Lewis, Dolui, Kapildeb, Pickard, Christopher, Heil, Christoph, Gunka, Piotr, Chartiton, Stella, Prakapenka, Vitali, Deng, Liangzi, Chu, Ching-Wu, Julian, Matthew, Prasankumar, Rohit, Strobel, Timothy

Language: English

Topic: High-pressure geophysics and materials

Subfield: Geophysics

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W7221776548

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