Specific programme: European Research Council Starting Grant
UPV/EHU Partner Status: Coordinator
UPV/EHU PI: Ion Errea Lope
Project start: 01/02/2019
Project end: 31/01/2024

Brief description: After the discovery of superconductivity at above 200 K in the hydrogen sulfide system, two clear conclusions can be drawn: i) there is lots of room for discovering new hydrogen-based high-temperature superconducting compounds, and ii) first-principles calculations can guide the discovery of these materials. In fact, the possibility of high-temperature superconductivity in the hydrogen sulfide system had been predicted before the experiment. However, in order to be accurate and reliable for this type of compounds, first-principles calculations need to go far beyond the state-of-the-art to correctly incorporate the large quantum effects intrinsic to hydrogen atoms. Huge errors on the superconducting properties of materials are often obtained with state-of-the-art methods, misguiding experimental effort. In this project, we will develop a new method that will make first-principles calculations correctly incorporate such quantum effects and, thus, reach an unprecedented precision and accuracy.