Possible High-Tc Superconductivity in LiMgN: A MgB2-like Material

Abstract

The search for superconductivity in materials iso-structural and iso-valent with magnesium diboride, MgB2, has not yielded any results close enough to the 39K Tc of MgB2. Lithium magnesium nitride, LiMgN, resembles MgB2 in that they both have the same averages of electronegativity, valence electron count and atomic number. Their formula weights are very close too. Using our recently published chemical symmetry rules for estimating superconductivity and Tcs of materials, we predict that LiMgN, a semiconductor at room temperature, with the same material specific characterization dataset (MSCD) as MgB2, should be a superconductor, in the ordered {\alpha}-phase or the orthorhombic phase, when cooled to 39K.