2024/07/14 by Yingpeng Yu, Yu, Yingpeng, Zhaolong Liu +25
Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Inorganic Chemistry and Materials #Iron-based superconductors research #Rare-earth and actinide compounds #Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2407.10268
openalex publication_date 2024/07/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
We present a comprehensive investigation of the superconducting properties of ZrRe2, a Re-based hexagonal Laves compounds. ZrRe2 crystallizes in a C14-type structure (space group P63/mmc), with cell parameters a=b=5.2682(5) and c=8.63045 . Resistivity and magnetic susceptibility data both suggest that ZrRe2 exhibits a sharp superconducting transition above 6.1 K. The measured lower and upper critical fields are 6.27 mT and 12.77 T, respectively, with a large upper critical field that approached the Pauli limit.Measurements of the heat capacity confirm the presence of bulk superconductivity, with a normalized specific heat change of 1.24 and an electron-phonon strength of 0.69 . DFT calculations revealed that the band structure of ZrRe2 is intricate and without van-Hove singularity. The observed large specific heat jump, combined with the electron-phonon strength , suggests that ZrRe2 is a weakly coupled type II superconductor.