Study of the thermo-magnetic fluctuations in carbon nano-tubes added Bi-2223 superconductors

We have investigated the effect of addition of carbon nano-tubes (CNT) on the properties of Bi1.6Pb0.4Sr2Ca2Cu3Oy superconductors. The samples are prepared from commercial powders with addition of 0.1 wt% of CNT. They are characterized by XRD, SEM and magneto-resistivity in the transition region. As it was reported for CNT added Y-123 compounds, the refined cell parameters are practically independent of this kind of addition. Under applied magnetic field, a large broadening of resistive transition is observed. The dissipative behavior of resistivity can be explained using the well known expression, ρ=ρ0(T/Tg−1)S. The modified vortex-glass to liquid transition theory is used to calculate the values of the glass-transition temperature Tg and the temperature and magnetic field dependent activation energy U0(B,T). These parameters are seen to decrease with CNT addition and applied magnetic field. Also, we have found that the undoped sample proves a better transition width, residual resistivity (ρ0) and a higher onset critical transition temperature of about 117.75 K. Also, the appearance of a double resistive transition for both samples is a confirmation of the existence of a secondary phase which plays the role of the weak links at the grain boundaries.