Preparation of epitaxial YBa2Cu3O7-y films and CeO2 buffer layer on Ni-5at.%W substrates by MOD method

Biaxially textured CeO2 films were deposited on Ni-5at.%W (Ni-5W) tapes by a metal-organic deposition (MOD) method. Subsequent YBa2Cu3O7-y (YBCO) films were prepared using the (MOD) method leading to a simplified coated conductor architecture of YBCO/CeO2/Ni-5W. X-ray diffraction measurements revealed an epitaxial growth of the CeO2 buffer layer the 7.06 degrees, 5.16 degrees, for the out-of-plane and in-plane alignment, respectively. The superconducting coated film with a texture spread down to the out-of-plane texture is omega = 6.2 degrees and the in-plane texture is phi = 7.6 degrees. The results indicate that single CeO2-buffered Ni-5W tapes are suitable for the epitaxial growth of YBCO higher cube texture and the epitaxial YBCO film was obtained. To microstructural investigations, the films SEM results showed a dense, smooth and crack-free surface morphology. The superconducting properties were measured by four probe method. The superconducting transition temperature (T-c) was about 90 K with a narrow transition of 0.8 K and the critical current density (J(c)) was about 1.5 x 10 (4) A/cm(2) at 77 K, 4T.