Chemistry of Materials
Chemistry of Materials
3 years ago

Optimizing Nanocomposites through Nanocrystal Surface Chemistry: Superconducting YBa2Cu3O7 Thin Films via Low-Fluorine Metal Organic Deposition and Preformed Metal Oxide Nanocrystals

Optimizing Nanocomposites through Nanocrystal Surface Chemistry: Superconducting YBa2Cu3O7 Thin Films via Low-Fluorine Metal Organic Deposition and Preformed Metal Oxide Nanocrystals
Katrien De Keukeleere, Glenn Pollefeyt, Petriina Paturi, Jan Bennewitz, Maximilian Hemgesberg, Ruben Hühne, Jens Hänisch, Isabel Van Driessche, Michael Bäcker, Max Sieger, Jonathan De Roo, Hannes Rijckaert, Hannu Huhtinen
Achieving low cost, safe, reproducible, and high performance superconducting thin films of YBa2Cu3O7−δ is essential to bring this material to the energy market. Here, we report on the chemical solution deposition of YBa2Cu3O7−δ nanocomposites from environmentally benign precursors with a low fluorine content. Preformed ZrO2 nanocrystals (3.5 nm) were stabilized in a methanolic precursor solution via two strategies: charge stabilization and steric stabilization. Counterintuitively, charge stabilization did not result in high quality superconducting layers, while the steric stabilization resulted in highly reproducible nanocomposite thin films with a self-field Jc of 4–5 MA cm–2 (77 K) and a much smaller decay of Jc with magnetic field compared to YBa2Cu3O7−δ without nanocrystals. In addition, these nanocomposite films show a strong pinning force enhancement and a reduced Jc anisotropy compared to undoped YBa2Cu3O7−δ films. Given the relationship between the nanocrystal surface chemistry and final nanocomposite performance, we expect these results to be also relevant for other nanocomposite research.

Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b02116

DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b02116

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