Anisotropic Full-Gap Superconductivity in 2M-WS₂ Topological Metal with Intrinsic Proximity Effect

Abstract

Layered 2M-WS₂ is recently observed to show Majorana bound states in vortices, but its superconducting pairing mechanism remains unknown, hindering the understanding of its topological superconducting nature. Using the <i>ab initio</i> Migdal-Eliashberg theory and electron-phonon Wannier interpolation, we demonstrate that both bulk and bilayer 2M-WS₂ have a single anisotropic full-gap superconducting order of s-wave symmetry. We successfully reproduce the experimental superconducting critical temperature for the bulk and predict the bilayer 2M-WS₂, a two-dimensional (2D) <i>Z</i>₂ topological metal with nontrivial edge states right at the Fermi energy, to superconduct at 7 K, much higher than that in most 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). A distinct proximity-enhanced surface superconductivity is further revealed by simulating quasiparticle density of states. This work unveils a universal electron-phonon full-gap pairing in 2M group VI TMDs and suggests a strong intrinsic surface-bulk proximity effect for 2M-WS₂, paving the way to engineering topological superconductivity in TMD-based nanoscale devices.