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Pressure as a clean and efficient tool can bring about unexpected extraordinary physical and chemical properties of matters. The recent discoveries of superconductivity at nearly room temperature in hydrides highlight the power of pressure in this aspect. Capturing such Tc superconductivity at atmosphere pressure for the technological applications is highly desired. The large-scale growth of diamond through the chemical vapor deposition away from the usual high-pressure and high-temperature conditions fuels such a hope. Similar to hydrides, Cs-doped C$_{60}$ was also found to exhibit superconductivity by the application of pressure with a comparable Tc of 40 K as MgB$_2$. Here, we report the successful realization of superconductivity in Cs-doped C$_{60}$ at atmosphere pressure. The phase is characterized to have the primitive cubic structure in the space group of Pa-3 with the stoichiometry of Cs$_3$C$_{60}$. The superconductivity is evidenced from the observations of both the Meissner effect and zero-resistance state. Although the pressure effects on superconductivity are different for the newly discovered Cs$_{3}$C$_{60}$ compared to the known two phases with fcc and A15 structure, the evolution of Tc with the volume for all these superconductors follows the same universal trend, suggesting the same pairing mechanism of the superconductivity. Such a trend together with the nearly linear Tc vs the lattice constant in the structure with smaller unit-cell volumes and the neighbouring antiferromagnetic state in the structure with larger unit-cell volumes invites the electron-phonon coupling and the electron correlations together to account for the superconductivity in Cs$_3$C$_{60}$. The present results and findings suggest a new route to capturing the superconductivity which takes place at high pressures to atmosphere pressure environment., Comment: 42 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables

To establish the doping-dependent phase diagram in alkali-metal doped C$_{60}$, we synthesize Rb-doped C$_{60}$ samples with different stoichiometries by using the improved wet-chemistry technique. The doping levels determined from the Raman scattering spectra often show the appearance of three electrons corresponding to the band filling of three for the synthesized compounds no matter matter what dopants are used. The multiple phase coexistence with the unique Rb$_{3}$C$_{60}$ is identified from the refined x-ray diffraction patterns. The phase fraction of Rb$_{3}$C$_{60}$ is found to behave with the doping in a similar manor as the superconducting shielding fraction. These rigorously established correlations among the superconducting transition temperature along with the structural and phonon vibrational properties allow us to single out Rb$_{3}$C$_{60}$ as the only superconducting phase with the nearly constant transition temperature regardless the doping level. These findings provide an experimental constraint on the theory developments for the superconductivity in fullerides., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

The superconducting parameters are the key for building or identifying the theory responsible for the mechanism of superconductivity. Such parameters for fulleride superconductors have not been well established despite the tremendous efforts over the past 30 years. Here we provide a full set of parameters through a systematic study on a well-characterized K$_{3}$C$_{60}$ sample. The obtained high upper critical field of 33.0$\pm$0.5 T from the direct electrical transport measurements together with the relatively high critical temperature and large critical current density classifies K$_{3}$C$_{60}$ as a promising three-dimensional superconducting magnet material with the advantage of the rich carbon abundance on the Earth. This high upper critical field along with the large reduced superconducting energy gap and strong phonon self-energy effect supports the strong electron-phonon coupling interactions in this superconductor. The evaluation of all self-consistently obtained parameters suggests the unconventional nature of the superconductivity for K$_3$C$_{60}$ with the joint contributions from the strong electron-phonon coupling and electron correlations. These results and findings are important not only for fundamentally understanding the superconductivity in fullerides but also for future superconducting magnet developments and applications., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures

Poly($para$-phenylene) has been recognized as one important family of conducting polymers upon doping with donors or acceptors. This system possesses a chain-like structure with infinite benzene rings linked with the single C-C bond. Oligophenyls as models of poly($para$-phenylene) with short chains in the \emph{para} position were found to exhibit superconductivity at transition temperatures ranging from 3 K to 123 K upon dopant. Structural studies have revealed that there exist the order-disorder transitions in many \emph{p}-oligophenyls with almost doubled lattice constants in the \emph{b} and \emph{c} directions at low temperatures, seemingly supporting the formation of the charge-density-wave order. Such a transition is of relevance to the understanding of the emergence of novel quantum functionality where unconventional polaronic interactions are relevant for the new emerging theory of superconductivity in this system. However, the accurate temperatures for the order-disorder transitions amongst these \emph{p}-oligophenyls are still needed to be determined. The chain length effects on the order-disorder transitions in this system remain unknown. Here we report the systematic investigation of the evolution of vibrational properties of the crystalline \emph{p}-oligophenyls over a wide temperature range. The order-disorder transition is identified by three indicators, the lowest energy peak together with the intensity ratios between the 1280 cm$^{-1}$ and 1220 cm$^{-1}$ modes and between the two modes at around 1600 cm$^{-1}$. A phase diagram of the order-disorder transition temperature as well as the melting curve for \emph{p}-oligophenyls is thus established. The former is found to increase with the chain length and saturates at around 350 K for poly($para$-phenylene)., Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures

Organometallic compounds constitute a very large group of substances that contain at least one metal-to-carbon bond in which the carbon is part of an organic group. They have played a major role in the development of the science of chemistry. These compounds are used to a large extent as catalysts (substances that increase the rate of reactions without themselves being consumed) and as intermediates in the laboratory and in industry. Recently, novel quantum phenormena such as topological insulators and superconductors were also suggested in these materials. However, there has been no report on the experimental exploration for the topological state. Evidence for superconductivity from the zero-resistivity state in any organometallic compound has not been achieved yet, though much efforts have been devoted. Here we report the experimental realization of superconductivity with the critical temperature of 3.6 K in a potassium-doped organometallic compound, $ i.e.$ tri-$o$-tolylbismuthine with the evidence of both the Meissner effect and the zero-resistivity state through the $dc$ and $ac$ magnetic susceptibility and resistivity measurements. The obtained superconducting parameters classify this compound as a type-II superconductor. The benzene ring is identified to be the essential superconducting unit in such a phenyl organometallic compound. The superconducting phase and its composition are determined by the combined studies of the X-ray diffraction and theoretical calculations as well as the Raman spectroscopy measurements. These findings enrich the applications of organometallic compounds in superconductivity and add a new electron-acceptor family for organic superconductors. This work also points to a large pool for finding superconductors from organometallic compounds., Comment: 39 pages, 4 figures

Recently, phenyl molecules have been reported to exhibit Meissner effect mainly from magnetization measurements. Realizing zero-resistivity state in these materials seems a challenge due to many practical difficulties but is required to characterize the existence of superconductivity. By choosing potassium-doped tris(2-methylphenyl)bismuthine as an example, we perform temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility and resistivity measurements at different magnetic fields and pressures. The solid evidence for supporting superconductivity is achieved from the obtained Meissner effect and zero resistivity with the critical temperature ($T_c$) of 3.6 K at atmosphere pressure. Upon compression, we observe the gradual evolution of superconductivity from its initial phase with a parabolic behavior of $T_{c}$ to the second one with almost constant value of $T_{c}$ of 7 K. The 7 K phase seems a common feature for these newly discovered phenyl-based superconductors., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

Using a new two-step synthesis method - ultrasound treatment and low temperature annealing, we explore superconductivity in potassium-doped triphenylbismuth, which is composed of one bismuth atom and three phenyl rings. The combination of dc and ac magnetic measurements reveals that one hundred percent of synthesized samples exhibit superconductivity at 3.5 K and/or 7.2 K at ambient pressure. The magnetization hysteresis loops provide a strong evidence of type-II superconductor, with the upper critical magnetic field up to 1.0 Tesla. Both calculated electronic structure and measured Raman spectra indicate that superconductivity is realized by transferring electron from potassium to carbon atom. Our study opens an encouraging window for the search of organic superconductors in organometallic molecules., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures

Inspired by the discovery of high temperature superconductivity in potassium-doped $p$-terphenyl, we examine the possibility of superconductivity in $p$-quaterphenyl with one more phenyl ring than $p$-terphenyl. The Meissner effect with critical temperatures ranging from 3.5 K to 120 K is found by the magnetic susceptibility measurements in $p$-quaterphenyl upon doping potassium in the condition of annealing or just pestling. The primary superconducting phase with critical temperature of 7.2 K can be reduplicated in several superconducting samples. In both the annealed and pestled superconducting samples, the observation of bipolaronic character by the Raman scattering measurements reveals the close relationship between bipolarons and superconductivity. The occurrence of superconductivity in potassium-doped $p$-quaterphenyl provides an indication that chain link organic molecules are potential candidates for high temperature superconductors., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures

Organic compounds are always promising candidates of superconductors with high transition temperatures. We examine this proposal by choosing 2,2$'$-bipyridine solely composed by C, H, and N atoms. The presence of Meissner effect with a transition temperature of 7.2 K in this material upon potassium doping is demonstrated by the $dc$ magnetic susceptibility measurements. The real part of the $ac$ susceptibility exhibits the same transition temperature as that in $dc$ magnetization, and a sharp peak appeared in the imaginary part indicates the formation of the weakly linked superconducting vortex current. The occurence of superconductivity is further supported by the resistance drop at the transition together with its suppression by the applied magnetic fields. The superconducting phase is identified to be K$_3$-2,2$'$-bipyridine from the analysis of Raman scattering spectra. This work not only opens an encouraging window for finding superconductivity after optoelectronics in 2,2$'$-bipyridine-based materials but also offers an example to realize superconductivity from conducting polymers and their derivatives., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures

The chain-like organic compounds with conjugated structure have the potential to become high temperature superconductors. We examine this idea by choosing p-quinquephenyl with five phenyl rings connected in para position. The dc magnetic susceptibility measurements provide solid evidence for the presence of Meissner effect when the compound is doped by potassium. The real part of the ac susceptibility shows exactly same transition temperature as that in dc magnetization, and the imaginary part of nearly zero value after transition implies the realization of zero-resistivity. All these features support the existence of superconductivity with a critical temperature of 7.3 K in this material. The occurrence of bipolarons revealed by Raman spectra guarantees potassium metal intercalated into p-quinquephenyl and suggests the important role of this elementary excitation played on superconductivity., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

Recently, there is a series of reports by Wang et al. on the superconductivity in K-doped p-terphenyl (KxC18H14) with the transition temperatures range from 7 to 123 Kelvin. Identifying the structural and bonding character is the key to understand the superconducting phases and the related properties. Therefore we carried out an extensive study on the crystal structures with different doping levels and investigate the thermodynamic stability, structural, electronic, and magnetic properties by the first-principles calculations. Our calculated structures capture most features of the experimentally observed X-ray diffraction patterns. The K doping concentration is constrained to within the range of 2 and 3. The obtained formation energy indicates that the system at x = 2.5 is more stable. The strong ionic bonding interaction is found in between K atoms and organic molecules. The charge transfer accounts for the metallic feature of the doped materials. For a small amount of charge transferred, the tilting force between the two successive benzenes drives the system to stabilize at the antiferromagnetic ground state, while the system exhibits non-magnetic behavior with increasing charge transfer. The multiformity of band structures near the Fermi level indicates that the driving force for superconductivity is complicated., Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures

The search for new superconducting compounds with higher critical temperatures $T_{c}^{\prime}$s has long been the very heart of scientific research on superconductivity. It took 75 years for scientists to push the $T_{c}$ above liquid nitrogen boiling temperature since the discovery of superconductivity. So far, the record high $T_{c}$ of about 130 K at atmosphere pressure was reported in some multilayer Hg(Tl)-Ba-Ca-Cu-O compounds. Meanwhile, sulfur hydride system holds the highest $T_{c}$ of around 200 K at high pressure of about 150 GPa. While keeping these records for superconductivity, either the toxicity of these superconductors or the requirement of extreme pressure condition for superconductivity limits their technology applications. Here we show that doping a chain link molecule $-$ $p$-terphenyl by potassium can bring about superconductivity at 123 K at atmosphere pressure, which is comparable to the highest $T_{c}$ in cuprates. The easy processability, light weight, durability of plastics, and environmental friendliness of this kind of new superconductor have great potential for the fine-tuning of electrical properties. This study opens a window for exploring high temperature superconductivity in chain link organic molecules., Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1703.05804

Organic compounds are promising candidates to exhibit high temperature or room temperature superconductivity. However, the critical temperatures of organic superconductors are bounded to 38 K. By doping potassium into $p$-terphenyl consisting of C and H elements with three phenyl rings connected by single C-C bond in para position, we find that this material can have a superconducting phase with the critical temperature of 43 K. The superconducting parameters such as the critical fields, coherent length, and penetration depth are obtained for this superconductor. These findings open an encouraging window for the search of high temperature superconductors in chain link organic molecules., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1703.05803

Motivated by the exploration of bipolaronic superconductivity in conducting polymers, we examine such a possibility in the starting member of $p$-oligophenyls $-$ $p$-terphenyl with three phenyl rings, belonging to the family of conducting polymer polyparaphenylene. The formation of bipolarons is identified from Raman scattering measurements. Both the dc and ac magnetic susceptibility measurements reveal that $p$-terphenyl is a type-II superconductor with a critical temperature of 7.2 K upon doping potassium. The electron-lattice interaction, manifested by pronounced bipolaronic bands, is suggested to account for the observed superconductivity. Conducting polymers are thus demonstrated to have the potential for the development of new superconducting technologies and devices., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures