Novel superconductivity in metallic SnH(4) under high pressure

Abstract

From first-principles calculations, a high-pressure metallic phase of SnH(4) with a novel layered structure intercalated by "H(2)" units is revealed. This structure is stable at pressure between 70 and 160 GPa. A remarkable feature of this structure is the presence of soft modes in the phonon band structure induced by Fermi surface nesting and Kohn anomalies that lead to very strong electron-phonon coupling. The application of the Allen-Dynes modified McMillan equation with the calculated electron-phonon coupling parameter lambda shows that a superconducting critical temperature close to 80 K can be achieved at 120 GPa.