Exploration of new superconductors and functional materials, and fabrication of superconducting tapes and wires of iron pnictides.

This review shows the highlights of a 4-year-long research project supported by the Japanese Government to explore new superconducting materials and relevant functional materials. The project found several tens of new superconductors by examining ∼1000 materials, each of which was chosen by Japanese experts with a background in solid state chemistry. This review summarizes the major achievements of the project in newly found superconducting materials, and the fabrication wires and tapes of iron-based superconductors; it incorporates a list of ∼700 unsuccessful materials examined for superconductivity in the project. In addition, described are new functional materials and functionalities discovered during the project.

Layered hydride CaNiGeH with a ZrCuSiAs-type structure: crystal structure, chemical bonding, and magnetism induced by Mn doping.

Stimulated by the discovery of the iron oxypnictide superconductor with ZrCuSiAs-type structure in 2008, extensive exploration of its isostructural and isoelectronic compounds has started. These compounds, including oxides, fluorides, and hydrides, can all be simply recognized as valence compounds for which the octet rule is valid. We report herein the first example of a ZrCuSiAs-type hydride, CaNiGeH, which violates the octet rule. This hydride was synthesized by hydrogenation of the CeFeSi-type compound CaNiGe under pressurized hydrogen. Powder diffraction and theoretical simulation confirm that H enters into the interstitial position of the Ca(4) tetrahedron, leading to notable anisotropic expansion of the unit cell along the c axis. Density functional theory calculations indicate the modification of the chemical bonding and formation of ionic Ca-H bond as a result of hydrogen insertion. Furthermore, CaNiGeH shows Pauli paramagnetism and metallic conduction similar to that of CaNiGe, but its carrier type changes to hole and the carrier density is drastically reduced as compared to CaNiGe. Mn-doping at the Ni site introduces magnetism to both the parent compound and the hydride. The measurement demonstrates that hydrogenation of CaNi(1-x)Mn(x)Ge reduces ferromagnetic ordering of Mn ions and induces huge magnetic hysteresis, whereas the spin glass state observed for the parent compound is preserved in the hydride. The hydrogenation-induced changes in the electric and magnetic properties are interpreted in terms of development of two-dimensionality in crystal structure as well as electronic state.

Field-induced topological Hall effect and double-fan spin structure with a c-axis component in the metallic kagome antiferromagnetic compound YMn6Sn6.

Geometric frustration in the kagome lattice makes it a great host for the flat electronic band, nontrivial topological properties, and novel magnetism. Here, we use magnetotransport measurements to map out the field-temperature phase diagram of the centrosymmetric YMn6Sn6 with a Mn kagome lattice and show that the system exhibits the topological Hall effect (THE) with an in-plane applied magnetic field around 240 K. In addition, our neutron diffraction results demonstrate that the observed THE cannot arise from a magnetic skyrmion lattice, but instead from an in-plane field-induced double-fan spin structure with c -axis components. This paper provides a platform to understand the influence of a field-induced novel magnetic structure on magnetoelectric response in topological kagome metals.

Characteristic fast H- ion conduction in oxygen-substituted lanthanum hydride.

Fast ionic conductors have considerable potential to enable technological development for energy storage and conversion. Hydride (H-) ions are a unique species because of their natural abundance, light mass, and large polarizability. Herein, we investigate characteristic H- conduction, i.e., fast ionic conduction controlled by a pre-exponential factor. Oxygen-doped LaH3 (LaH3-2xOx) has an optimum ionic conductivity of 2.6 × 10-2 S cm-1, which to the best of our knowledge is the highest H- conductivity reported to date at intermediate temperatures. With increasing oxygen content, the relatively high activation energy remains unchanged, whereas the pre-exponential factor decreases dramatically. This extraordinarily large pre-exponential factor is explained by introducing temperature-dependent enthalpy, derived from H- trapped by lanthanum ions bonded to oxygen ions. Consequently, light mass and large polarizability of H-, and the framework comprising densely packed H- in LaH3-2xOx are crucial factors that impose significant temperature dependence on the potential energy and implement characteristic fast H- conduction.