Superconductivity in undoped T’-RE2CuO4 with Tc over 30 K

In this article, we report the superconductivity in T’-RE2CuO4 (RE = Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, and Gd), which have been for a long time believed as a Mott insulator. Our discovery was achieved by using metal-organic decomposition (MOD), an inexpensive and easy-to-implement thin film process. The keys to prepare the superconducting films are firing with low partial pressure of oxygen and reduction at low temperatures. The highest Tc of undoped T’-RE2CuO4 is over 30 K, substantially higher than “electron-doped” analogs. Remarkably, T’-Gd2CuO4, even the derivatives of which have not shown superconductivity so far, gets superconducting with Tconset as high as 20 K. The implication of our discovery is briefly discussed.