Abstract

Pr 2-z Ce z Sr2Cu2NbO10 (Pr222Nb10), is widely believed to not superconduct, although its homologues in which Pr is replaced by Nd, Sm, Eu, or Gd do (with Tc ≈ 28 K). On the basis of bulk resistivity, bulk diamagnetism, electron spin resonance, and surface resistance measurements of Pr222Nb10, we conclude that it does exhibit granular superconductivity (as predicted) with a critical temperature in the range 25–28 K, but is not currently a bulk superconductor. Neutron diffraction studies show that our Pr222Nb10 is multi-phase, but does not contain significant amounts of any (known) superconducting phase other than Pr222Nb10. It does contain ~ 23% PrSr defects, but far fewer SrPr impurities (<2%), so that the predicted antistructure defect ( SrPr , PrSr ) is probably not responsible for breaking Cooper pairs and destroying superconductivity, but the important half of it, PrSr , almost certainly is.

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