The superconducting property of platinum diselenide $\left(\mathrm{PtS}{\mathrm{e}}_2\right)$, being a type-II Dirac semimetal, doped with electron and hole carriers has been investigated by first-principles calculations. It is found that the superconducting transition temperature $T_{\mathrm{c}}$ of pristine $\mathrm{PtS}{\mathrm{e}}_2$ is very low $(\le 0.002$ K), making it infeasible as a practical superconductor. The electron doping is an effective way to increases the $T_{\mathrm{c}}$ of $\mathrm{PtS}{\mathrm{e}}_2$ to 2.15 K at $0.5e^{-}$ per unit cell. We further find that the mechanism of superconducting transition is the acoustic branch vibration mode softening rather than the Fermi surface nesting. Our results provide an important clue to increase superconducting temperature in the heavy transition-metal dichalcogenides and shed light on searching for new superconducting topological semimetals.

• Received 5 July 2017
• Revised 8 November 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.1.074804