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Abstract

Room-temperature superconductivity is becoming realistic given progress in conventional superconductivity: the critical temperature Tc =203 K has been discovered in H3S under high pressures ~150 GPa[1]. Even higher, nearly room temperature superconductivity has been recently found in superhydride LaH10[2, 3] with Tc ~ 250 K, following the theoretical predictions[4-6]. In this hydride, lanthanum atom is located at the center of the cage of hydrogen H24 and acts as electron donor contributing to electron pairing, while the hydrogen atoms form weak covalent bonds with each other within the cage. This structure is different from that of H3S, in which each hydrogen atom is connected by a strong covalent bond to the two nearby sulfur atoms.
We will discuss prospects for further increase of Tc to room temperature, which naturally is expecting for hydrides at high pressures. We will present recent studies on YHx, CaHx and other compounds that are considered as potential room-temperature superconductivitors. We will consider various directions to explore high-temperature conventional superconductivity at low and ambient pressures.