First-Principles Investigation of Superconductivity in Dy-Intercalated Bilayer Graphene Under High Pressure

This study investigates the superconducting properties of Dy-intercalated bilayer graphene ( $$DyC_6$$ ) using first-principles calculations. Under an applied pressure of 2 GPa, the electronic structure and electron-phonon coupling of $$DyC_6$$ are evaluated within the EPW module of Quantum ESPRESSO. The results reveal a metallic multi-band Fermi surface with several bands crossing the Fermi level, indicative of strong electron-phonon coupling. The calculated electron-phonon coupling constant is $$\lambda $$ = 0.929, and the superconducting critical temperature is predicted to be $$Tc \approx $$ 11.14 K, with a superconducting gap of 1.69 meV. Analysis of the Eliashberg spectral function shows that superconductivity arises from the synergistic contribution of low-frequency Dy-related phonon modes and high-frequency C-related modes. Despite the inherent magnetic moment of Dy, calculations indicate that its magnetism is nearly quenched in the $$DyC_6$$ system due to hybridization with carbon layers, allowing BCS-type phonon-mediated superconductivity to emerge. This work predicts $$DyC_6$$ as a promising graphene-based superconductor and provides a theoretical basis for integrating magnetic rare-earth elements into two-dimensional materials to engineer superconducting properties.