Comparative experimental and Density Functional Theory (DFT) study of the physical properties of MgB2 and AlB2

TL;DR

This study compares the physical and electronic properties of MgB2 and AlB2 using experiments and DFT calculations, revealing MgB2's strong coupling superconductivity and the absence of superconductivity in AlB2 due to electronic structure differences.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive experimental and theoretical comparison of MgB2 and AlB2, highlighting the origin of superconductivity in MgB2 and its absence in AlB2.

Findings

MgB2 is a strong coupling two-gap superconductor.

AlB2 is not superconducting due to electronic structure differences.

DFT results align with experimental measurements.

Abstract

In present study, we report an inter-comparison of various physical and electronic properties of MgB2 and AlB2. Interestingly, the sign of S(T) is +ve for MgB2 the same is -ve for AlB2. This is consistent our band structure plots. We fitted the experimental specific heat of MgB2 to Debye Einstein model and estimated the value of Debye temperature (theta) and Sommerfeld constant (gamma) for electronic specific heat. Further, from gamma the electronic density of states (DOS) at Fermi level N(EF) is calculated. From the ratio of experimental N (EF) and the one being calculated from DFT, we obtained value of Lembda to be 1.84, thus placing MgB2 in the strong coupling BCS category. The electronic specific heat of MgB2 is also fitted below Tc using pi-model and found that it is a two gap superconductor. The calculated values of two gaps are in good agreement with earlier reports. Our results clearly demonstrate that the superconductivity of MgB2 is due to very large phonon contribution from its stretched lattice. The same two effects are obviously missing in AlB2 and hence it is not superconducting. DFT calculations demonstrated that for MgB2 the majority of states come from Sigma and Pi 2p states of boron on the other hand Sigma band at Fermi level for AlB2 is absent. This leads to a weak electron phonon coupling and also to hole deficiency as Pi bands are known to be of electron type and hence obviously the AlB2 is not superconducting. The DFT calculations are consistent with the measured physical properties of the studied borides, i.e., MgB2 and AlB2