Superconductivity induced by doping platinum in BaFe2As2

By substituting Fe with the 5d-transition metal Pt in BaFe2As2, we have successfully synthesized the superconductors BaFe2-xPtxAs2. The systematic evolution of the lattice constants indicates that the Fe ions were successfully replaced by Pt ions. By increasing the doping content of Pt, the antiferromagnetic order and structural transition of the parent phase is suppressed and superconductivity emerges at a doping level of about x=0.02. At a doping level of x=0.1, we get a maximum transition temperature T-c of about 25 K. While even for this optimally doped sample, the residual resistivity ratio is only about 1.35, indicating a strong impurity scattering effect. We thus argue that the doping to the Fe sites naturally leads to a high level impurity scattering, although the superconductivity can still survive at about 25 K. The synchrotron powder x-ray diffraction shows that the resistivity anomaly is in good agreement with the structural transition. The superconducting transitions at different magnetic fields were also measured at the doping level of about x=0.1, yielding a slope of -dH(c2)/dT=5.4 T/K near T-c. Finally a phase diagram was established for the Pt-doped 122 system. Our results suggest that superconductivity can also be easily induced in the FeAs family by substituting the Fe with Pt with almost the similar maximum transition temperatures as doping Ni, Co, Rh, and Ir.