We report high-pressure induced superconductivity in boron nanowires (BNWs) with rhombohedral crystal structure. Obviously different from bulk rhombohedral boron, these BNWs show a semiconductor-metal transition at much lower pressure than bulk boron. Also, we found these BNWs become superconductors with Tc=1.5 K at 84 GPa, at the pressure of which bulk boron is still a semiconductor, via in-situ resistance measurements in a diamond anvil cell. With increasing pressure, Tc of the BNWs increases. The occurrence of superconductivity in the BNWs at a pressure as low as 84 GPa probably arises from the size effect.
@article{arxiv.0904.1278,
title = {Pressure-induced Superconductivity in Crystalline Boron Nanowires},
author = {Liling Sun and Takahiro Matsuoka and Yasuyuki Tamari and Katsuya Shimizu and Jifa Tian and Yuan Tian and Chendong Zhang and Chengmin Shen and Wei Yi and Hongjun Gao and Jianqi Li and Xiaoli Dong and Zhongxian Zhao},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0904.1278},
year = {2015}
}