# Data-driven Exploration of Pressure-Induced Superconductivity in AgIn$_{5}$Se$_{8}$

## TL;DR

This study identifies and synthesizes AgIn$_{5}$Se$_{8}$, revealing pressure-induced superconductivity at high pressures, and combines computational screening with experimental validation.

## Contribution

It combines high-throughput first-principles calculations with experimental synthesis and high-pressure measurements to discover pressure-induced superconductivity in AgIn$_{5}$Se$_{8}$.

## Key findings

- AgIn$_{5}$Se$_{8}$ becomes superconducting at 3.4 K under 52.5 GPa
- Superconducting transition temperature increases to 3.7 K at 74.0 GPa
- High-quality single crystals were synthesized and characterized successfully.

## Abstract

Candidates compounds for new thermoelectric and superconducting materials, which have narrow band gap and flat bands near band edges, were exhaustively searched by a high-throughput first-principles calculation from an inorganic materials database named AtomWork. We focused on AgIn$_{5}$Se$_{8}$ which has high density of state near the Fermi level. AgIn$_{5}$Se$_{8}$ was successfully synthesized as single crystals using a melt and slow cooling method. The single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis revealed the obtained crystal is high quality without deficiencies. The valence states in AgIn$_{5}$Se$_{8}$ were determined to be Ag1+, In3+ and Se2- in accordance with a formal charge by the core level X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. The electrical resistance was evaluated under high pressure using a diamond anvil cell with boron-doped diamond electrodes. Although the sample was insulator with a resistance of above 40 M{\Omega} at ambient pressure, the resistance markedly decreased with increase of the pressure, and a pressure-induced superconducting transition was discovered at 3.4 K under 52.5 GPa. The transition temperature increased up to 3.7 K under further pressure of 74.0 GPa.

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1902.09770