Strong electron-phonon coupling in superconducting bismuth nanoparticles

Abstract

We report on the nanosized effect on superconducting properties of Bi nanoparticles (NPs) that extracted from the temperature and applied magnetic field dependent magnetization measurements of bismuth NPs, and revealed an enhanced TC and stronger coupling strength because of increased density of state and softened phonons ωln. A strong electron-phonon coupling (λep = 1.639) to low-lying phonons (ωln = 58 K) is found to be the leading mechanism behind the observed superconductivity with an enhanced TC ∼ 8.22 K and a strong superconducting coupling strength of α = 2.32(1) of 15 nm Bi NPs. Our results are well described by the Allen and Dynes formula within the framework of the McMillan formalism and are in agreement with the Ginzburg-Landau theory calculations.