Structural and superconducting properties in the Te-doped spinel CuRh2Se4

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the impact of tellurium (Te) doping on the spinel superconductor CuRh2Se4. We conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the structural and superconducting properties of the system using various techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), resistivity, magnetization, and specific heat measurements. Based on our XRD analysis, we found that the spinel superconductor CuRh2Se4-xTex (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.28) crystallizes in the space group Fd3̅m (227), while the layered compound CuRh2Se4-xTex (2.8 ≤ x ≤ 4.0) crystallizes in the space group P3̅m1 (164). The upper critical magnetic field can be increased from 0.95(2) T for CuRh2Se4 to 3.44(1) T for CuRh2Se3.72Te0.28 by doping with elemental Te. However, the layered compound CuRh2Se4-xTex (2.8 ≤ x ≤ 4.0) did not exhibit superconducting properties. Besides, the specific heat measurements of CuRh2Se4-xTex (x = 0, 0.1, 0.28) indicate that the Te element doping affects the electronic structure and interactions of the material and breaks the stability of the superconducting pairing, which leads to a decrease in the Tc. Finally, we show the electronic phase diagram of Tc with Te doping to summarise our findings.