Elemental Substitution at Tl Site of Tl1- xX x(Ba, Sr)CaCu2O7 Superconductor with X = Cr, Bi, Pb, Se, and Te

Jaafar Nur-Akasyah; Roslan Abd-Shukor; Tet Vui Chong

doi:10.3390/ma16114022

Elemental Substitution at Tl Site of Tl_{1- x}X _x(Ba, Sr)CaCu₂O₇ Superconductor with X = Cr, Bi, Pb, Se, and Te

Materials (Basel). 2023 May 27;16(11):4022. doi: 10.3390/ma16114022.

Authors

Jaafar Nur-Akasyah¹, Roslan Abd-Shukor², Tet Vui Chong¹

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Engineering and Quantity Surveying, INTI International University, Persiaran Perdana BBN, Putra Nilai, Nilai 71800, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.
² Department of Applied Physics, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia.

Abstract

The effects of elemental substitutions at the Tl site of a Tl_1-xX_x(Ba, Sr)CaCu₂O₇ superconductor with X = Cr, Bi, Pb, Se, and Te were investigated. This study aimed to determine the elements that enhance and suppress the superconducting transition temperature of the Tl_1-xX_x(Ba, Sr)CaCu₂O₇ (Tl-1212) phase. The selected elements belong to the groups of transition metal, post-transition metal, non-metal, and metalloid. The relationship between the transition temperature and ionic radius of the elements was also discussed. The samples were prepared by the solid-state reaction method. The XRD patterns showed a single Tl-1212 phase was formed in the non- and Cr-substituted (x = 0.15) samples. The Cr-substituted samples (x = 0.4) showed a plate-like structure with smaller voids. The highest superconducting transition temperatures (T_{c onset}, T_cχ', and T_p) were also achieved by the Cr-substituted samples for x = 0.4 compositions. However, the substitution of Te suppressed the superconductivity of the Tl-1212 phase. J_{c inter} (T_p) for all samples was calculated to be in the range of 12-17 A/cm². This work shows that substitution elements with a smaller ionic radius tend to be more favorable in improving the superconducting properties of the Tl-1212 phase.

Keywords: Tl(Ba,Sr)CaCu2O7; Tl-1212; superconductivity.

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Ministry of Education of Malaysia under grant no. FRGS/1/2020/STG07/UKM/01/1.