High-Jc YBa2Cu3O7−x-Ag superconducting thin films synthesized through a fluorine-free MOD method

Obtaining a high critical current density (Jc) remains the main challenge in developing fluorine-free metal organic deposition (MOD) methods to fabricate YBCO superconducting thin films. Silver addition was used to raise the Jc values in this research work. By reacting with propionic acid and ammonia, AgNO3 was initially mixed with YBCO carboxylate precursors dissolved in methanol. High-temperature in situ XRD measurements on the YBCO-Ag powders revealed that silver addition lowers the incongruent melting temperature of YBCO to 760 °C and resulted in a smooth surface morphology of the YBCO films at a temperature as low as 760 °C. Grain growth and intergranular conductivity were also found to be improved by silver doping. After annealing under optimized conditions, a high Jc of 4.6 MA/cm2 was obtained in a YBCO-Ag thin film with 10 wt% Ag.