Doping effect of nano-Ho2O3 and naphthalene in MgB2 superconductor prepared by powder-in-sealed-tube method

Abstract

The effect on crystal structure, critical temperature (TC), and critical current density (JC) of bulk MgB2 doped with nano-Ho2O3 and naphthalene was studied. Among all the samples studied, the sample doped with 2.5 wt. % nano-Ho2O3 have shown the best field dependent critical current density [JC(H)], i.e., 0.77 × 105 A/cm2 at 2 T and 10 K. While naphthalene doped MgB2 sample has shown the least JC(H) characteristics. The improved JC(H) characteristics in the nano-Ho2O3 doped MgB2 samples are attributed to improved flux pinning properties due to the formation of HoB4 and in naphthalene doped MgB2 samples. The slight lower TC value (37.01 K) in naphthalene doped samples is attributed to the occurrence of lattice defect by the substitution of carbon at boron site of MgB2 superconductor. Lower ΔTC value implies the lesser anisotropy in all the synthesized samples. The flux pinning force density (FP/FPmax) curves are theoretically analyzed using Dew-Hughes model. The result revealed that point pinning is the dominant pinning mechanism for nano-Ho2O3 doped MgB2 samples, while, surface and grain boundary pinning become dominant with increasing naphthalene addition in nano-Ho2O3 doped MgB2 samples.