Ternary superhydrides under pressure of Anderson's theorem: Near-record superconductivity in (La,Sc)H$_{12}$ (2408.07477v2)

Abstract: Lanthanum-hydrogen system and its derivatives remain among the most promising for achieving room-temperature superconductivity. In this study, we examined the formation of ternary lanthanum-scandium superhydrides at pressures up to 220 GPa. The primary product of the LaSc alloy's reaction with hydrogen is newly discovered cubic (La,Sc)H${12}$, demonstrating clear superconducting transition in all six channels of the van der Pauw scheme below 244-248 K. In this compound with an unusually large unit cell volume, virtually no magnetoresistance was observed in fields up to 68 Tesla. Synthesized samples of (La,Sc)H${12}$ demonstrate pronounced superconducting diode and SQUID-like effects at a record high temperature of 233 K. Furthermore, our analysis revealed the formation of lower hexagonal polyhydrides (La,Sc)H$_{6-7}$, which could potentially account for the anomaly in electrical resistance observed near 274 K. This anomaly between 265-290 K also appears in the radio-frequency transmission measurements and may be of a superconducting nature.