Superconductivity from doping boron icosahedra

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new method to induce superconductivity in boron-rich solids by hole doping B12 icosahedra, demonstrating potential high critical temperatures in doped boron icosahedral materials.

Contribution

It introduces hole doping of B12 icosahedra as a novel route to achieve superconductivity in boron-rich solids, supported by analysis of B13C2.

Findings

B13C2 exhibits large phonon frequencies and moderate electron-phonon coupling.

Hole doping of boron icosahedra may lead to high critical temperatures.

Boron icosahedral units are key to superconductivity in these materials.

Abstract

We propose a new route to achieve the superconducting state in Boron-rich solids, the hole doping of B$_{12}$ icosahedra. For this purpose we consider a prototype metallic phase of B$_{13}$C$_2$. We show that in this compound the Boron icosahedral units are mainly responsible for the large phonon frequencies logarithmic average, 65.8 meV, and the moderate electron-phonon coupling 0.8. We suggest that this high critical temperature could be a general feature of hole doped boron icosahedral solids.