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Superconducting Praseodymium Superhydrides

Superhydrides have complex hydrogenic sublattices and are important prototypes for studying metallic hydrogen and high-temperature superconductors. Encouraged by the results on LaH10, in consideration of the differences between La and Pr, Pr-H system is especially worth studying because of the magnetism and valence-band f-electrons in element Pr. Here we successfully synthesized praseodymium superhydrides (PrH9) in laser-heated diamond anvil cells. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis demonstrated the presence of previously predicted F43m-PrH9 and unexpected P63/mmc-PrH9 phases. Moreover, Fm3m-PrH3, P4/nmm-PrH(3-δ) and Fm3m-PrH(1+x) were found below 52 GPa. F43m-PrH9 and P63/mmc-PrH9 were stable above 100 GPa in experiment. Experimental studies of electrical resistance in the PrH9 sample showed the emergence of superconducting transition (Tc) below 9K and a dependent Tc on applied magnetic field. Theoretical calculations indicate that magnetic order and electron-phonon interaction coexist in a very close range of pressures in the PrH9 sample which may contribute to its low superconducting temperature Tc. Our results highlight the intimate connections among hydrogenic sublat