Facile synthesis of potassium intercalated p-terphenyl and signatures of a possible high Tc phase

TL;DR

This paper presents a simple method to synthesize potassium-intercalated p-terphenyl, revealing signs of a potential high-temperature superconducting phase around 107 K, though with limited superconducting volume.

Contribution

It introduces an easy synthesis process for potassium-doped p-terphenyl and provides experimental evidence of superconducting signatures near 107 K.

Findings

Superconducting transition observed at 107 K.

Magnetic behavior consistent with type-2 superconductor.

Limited superconducting volume fraction detected.

Abstract

Synthesis methodology for flakes of p-terphenyl through sublimation under inert atmosphere of argon is presented. Flake morphology of p-terphenyl provides a favourable environment for efficient intercalation of potassium. Ratio of potassium and p-terphenyl is adjusted so as to obtain the desired superconducting phase i.e. potassium doped p-terphenyl (K3C18H14). A clear transition is observed at 107 K under Zero Field Cooled (ZFC) and Field Cooled (FC) mode. But overall the moment is positive possibly due to impurity phase dominating characteristics in the presence of negligible superconducting volume fraction. The M-H loop taken at 20 K shows magnetic behaviour in synthesized K- doped p-terphenyl but upon background subtraction, it does exhibit characteristics of a type-2 superconductor.