YBCO films buffered by pyrochlore Nd 2Mo 2O 7 layer on YSZ substrates by chemical solution deposition

Abstract

A chemical solution deposition process was used to grow epitaxial Nd 2Mo 2O 7 (NMO) buffer layers on YSZ substrates to produce YBa 2Cu 3O 7−δ (YBCO) coated conductors. The NMO precursor solution prepared using metal acetylacetonates was spin-coated onto single crystal YSZ substrate of 10 mm × 10 mm in size at 3000 rpm for 30 s and heat-treated at 1000 °C for 2 h in Ar after calcinated at 550 °C for 1 h. The YBCO film was deposited by TFA-MOD route on top of the NMO/YSZ architecture. The phase purity and the crystalline orientation of NMO and YBCO films were evaluated by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to observe their microstructure and their surface roughness. The critical current density ( J c) of YBCO film on NMO/YSZ is 1.8 MA/cm 2 at 77 K in self-field, which indicates that the Nd 2Mo 2O 7 is a potential buffer for YBCO coated conductor.