Superconductivity and Coulomb oscillation in Ni–Nb–Zr–H glassy alloys with nanoclusters

The superconducting and electric current- induced voltage (Coulomb) oscillation behaviours of (Ni0.36Nb0.24Zr0.40)100−yHy (0 ≤ y ≤ 20) glassy alloys with distorted nanostructural icosahedral Zr5Nb5Ni3 clusters have been studied in terms of cluster morphology as a function of hydrogen content. The (Ni0.36Nb0.24Zr0.40)94.6 H5.4 and (Ni0.36Nb0.24Zr0.40)90H10 glassy alloys showed superconductivity of type II and Coulomb staircase with charging/discharging behaviors below 10 K and at room temperature, respectively. These results suggest that the localization effect of hydrogen at the outside and inside spaces of the clusters plays important roles in various electron transport phenomena.