Magnetic Properties and Critical Current of Superconducting Nanocomposites (1 − x)YBa2Cu3O7−δ + xCuO

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to study the effect of nanoscale inclusions of CuO as the second ingredient of composites on transport properties of superconducting YBa2Cu3O7 polycrystals. The samples of YBa2Cu3O7−δ with different content of CuO nanoparticles were synthesized. The analysis of the magnetic properties was carried out within the extended critical state model. It was found that the addition of 0.5 and 1% of CuO nanoparticles leads to an increase in the intragranular density of the critical current at T = 4.2 K. A further increase of x from 2 to 15% and more than 40% decreases the critical current density. The critical current density higher than in the reference sample was also found in the samples with x = 20% and x = 24%.