Prediction of Superconductivity in Potassium-Doped Benzene

TL;DR

This study uses first-principles calculations to predict that potassium-doped benzene can become superconducting around 6.2 K, suggesting a universal superconducting phase in similar hydrocarbons doped with potassium.

Contribution

First, it identifies the most stable potassium-doped benzene phase and its superconducting temperature; second, it proposes a universal superconducting phase for doped aromatic hydrocarbons.

Findings

K$_2$C$_6$H$_6$ is the most stable phase with T$_c$ around 6.2 K.

All hydrocarbons doped with two potassium atoms may have a superconducting phase at 5-7 K.

Electron-phonon interaction explains the superconductivity in this phase.

Abstract

To explore underlying mechanism for the superconducting phase in recent discovered aromatic hydrocarbons, we carry out the first-principles calculations on benzene, the basic and the simplest unit of the series and examine the structural and phase stability when doped by potassium, K$_x$C$_6$H$_6$ ($x=1,2,3$). We find that K$_2$C$_6$H$_6$ with the space group of $Pbca$ is the most stable phase with superconducting transition temperature around 6.2 K. Moreover, we argue that all existing hydrocarbons should have a unified superconducting phase in the same temperature range of 5$-$7 K, when doped by two potassium atoms. Our results indicate that the electron-phonon interaction is enough to account for the superconductivity of this unified superconducting phase.