AC susceptibility study of superconducting YBa2Cu3O7:Agx bulk composites (x = 0.0-0.20): The role of intra and inter granular coupling

TL;DR

This study investigates how adding silver to YBa2Cu3O7 enhances grain coupling and superconducting performance, with optimal results at 10wt% Ag, suggesting improved potential for bulk superconductor applications.

Contribution

It demonstrates that limited silver addition improves grain connectivity and superconducting properties in YBCO, highlighting the role of intra- and intergranular coupling.

Findings

Optimal Ag content (10wt%) enhances intergranular coupling.

Silver doping increases grain size and connectivity.

Superconducting performance is significantly improved with Ag addition.

Abstract

We report the effect of silver addition on superconducting performance of bulk YBCO (YBa2Cu3O7) superconductor. All the studied samples are prepared by conventional solid-state reaction method. Rietveld fitted X-ray diffraction data confirmed the single phase formation for all the studied samples. Detailed AC susceptibility measurements as a function of driven AC amplitude (1Oe-17Oe) of these samples revealed the enhancement of grains coupling with increasing Ag content in YBCO+Agx composite system. 10wt% Ag added YBCO superconductors exhibited the optimum inter granular coupling. The Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) observations indicate an increase in the grains connectivity in terms of narrow grain boundaries for doped samples. The average grain size is found to increase with Ag doping. It is concluded that limited addition of Ag in bulk YBCO superconductor significantly improves the grains coupling and as result optimum superconducting performance. YBCO+Ag composites could prove to be potential candidates for bulk superconducting applications of the studied high Tc system.