Prediction of high-Tc superconducting hydrides at ambient pressure

Reaching ambient conditions superconductivity is one of the biggest scientific challenges of all times. 

The discovery of a material superconductor at 300 K at ambient pressure would revolutionize all applications of electromagnetism, from the development of efficient electrical engines and power generators to the building of powerful magnets required in fusion reactors. 

Quantum technologies would also be highly impacted, as the development of a resilient quantum computer relies mainly on superconducting qubits.

With the discovery in the last decade of superconductivity in hydrides with critical temperatures (Tc) above 250 K, it is clear that hydrides offer the most realistic path towards the ultimate goal of ambient conditions superconductivity. 

Remarkably, most of these experimental discoveries were anticipated by first-principles predictions performed on HPC facilities. 

The problem is that all these discoveries have been performed at megabar pressures.

The study's recent work has shown that ionic quantum anharmonic effects can stabilize high-Tc hydrides at much lower pressures than expected otherwise, explaining the 250 K superconductivity in LaH10.

In this project we will make use of quantum anharmonic first-principles calculations to predict novel high-Tc ternary hydrides stable or metastable at ambient pressure.