With a generic model for the electron-phonon spectral density, two simple expressions are derived to estimate the transition temperature and gap-to-temperature ratio in conventional superconductors. They entail that on average the numerical value of the phonon exchange factor, λ, is limited to 2.67, so that room temperature superconductivity may be attained only with a Debye temperature of about 1800 K or higher, in materials that may or may not involve hydrogen. They also show that a Be-Pb alloy may become a superconductor at ∼44 K.
@article{arxiv.1905.01367,
title = {Prospects to attain room temperature superconductivity},
author = {X. H. Zheng and J. X. Zheng and D. G. Walmsley},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1905.01367},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
An application of the model to alloys is added to the manuscript, previously accepted into Solid State Communications on 03/05/19