Why non-superconducting metallic elements become superconducting under

 high pressure

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Abstract

We predict that simple metals and early transition metals that become superconducting under high pressures will show a change in sign of their Hall coefficient from negative to positive under pressure. If verified, this will strongly suggest that hole carriers play a fundamental role in `conventional' superconductivity, as predicted by the theory of hole superconductivity.

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Direct observation of a pressure-induced metal-to-semiconductor transition in lithium

Katsuya Shimizu, Takahiro Matsuoka (2009)

Lithium, the lightest metal, has long been considered to have a 'simple' electronic structure that can be well explained within the nearly-free-electron model. But lithium does not stay 'simple' under compression: rather than becoming more free-electron-like as pressure is increased, first-principles calculations suggest that it transforms into a semi-metal or semiconductor. Experimentally, it has been shown that dense lithium adopts low-symmetry structures; there is also evidence that its resistivity increases with pressure. However, the electronic transport properties of lithium have so far not been directly monitored as a function of increasing static pressure. Here we report electrical resistance measurements on lithium in a diamond anvil cell up to pressures of 105 GPa, which reveal a significant increase in electrical resistivity and a change in its temperature dependence near 80 GPa. Our data thus provide unambiguous experimental evidence for a pressure-induced metal-to-semiconductor transition in a 'simple' metallic element.