Prediction of superconductivity in Li-intercalated bilayer phosphorene

Abstract

It is shown that bilayer phosphorene can be transformed from a direct-gap semiconductor to a BCS superconductor by intercalating Li atoms. For the Li-intercalated bilayer phosphorene, we find that the electron occupation of Li-derived band is small and superconductivity is intrinsic. With increasing the intercalation of Li atoms, both increased metallicity and strong electron-phonon coupling are favorable for the enhancement of superconductivity. The obtained electron-phonon coupling λ can be larger than 1 and the superconducting temperature Tc can be increased up to 16.5 K, suggesting that phosphorene may be a good candidate for a nanoscale superconductor.