Enhanced flux pinning properties of Ga2O3: YBCO nanocomposite superconductor

Abstract

The effect of adding various concentrations (0.1–0.5 wt%) of Ga₂O₃ nanorods (NRs) on structural, electrical, magnetic, and flux pinning properties of the YBa₂Cu O_7-δ (YBCO) superconductor is studied. The critical current density (J_c) and flux pinning force (F_p) values are found to enhance significantly, and the nanocomposite sample with x = 0.2 wt% shows the maximum enhancement among the samples under study. At 4 K, the maximum value of J_c (J_cmax) and F_p (F_pmax) for the 0.2 wt% sample are ∼ 2.87 and 3 times higher and at 65 K, these increments are ∼ 3.54 and 3.4 times, as compared to pure YBCO respectively. Moreover, the J_c value for the composite samples has a lower decay with increasing temperature than the pure YBCO samples. The enhanced superconducting properties of the xGa₂O₃: YBCO can be attributed to the lattice defects induced by Ga₂O₃ NRs, which act as effective pinning centers.