Topological superconductivity and large spin Hall effect in the kagome family Ti 6 X 4 (X = Bi, Sb, Pb, Tl, and In).

Topological superconductors (TSC) become a focus of research due to the accompanying Majorana fermions. However, the reported TSC are extremely rare. Recent experiments reported kagome TSC AV ₃ Sb ₅ (A = K, Rb, and Cs) exhibit unique superconductivity, topological surface states (TSS), and Majorana bound states. More recently, the first titanium-based kagome superconductor CsTi ₃ Bi ₅ with nontrivial topology was successfully synthesized as a perspective TSC. Given that Cs contributes little to electronic structures of CsTi ₃ Bi ₅ and binary compounds may be easier to be synthesized, here, by first-principle calculations, we predict five stable nonmagnetic kagome compounds Ti ₆ X ₄ (X = Bi, Sb, Pb, Tl, and In) which exhibit superconductivity with critical temperature Tc = 3.8 K - 5.1 K, nontrivial Z 2 band topology, and TSS close to the Fermi level. Additionally, large intrinsic spin Hall effect is obtained in Ti ₆ X ₄ , which is caused by gapped Dirac nodal lines due to a strong spin-orbit coupling. This work offers new platforms for TSC and spintronic devices.
Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
(© 2022 The Author(s).)