X-ray diffraction study on YBa2Cu3O7-δ with BaCuO2 addition

Two-phase polycrystalline powder mixtures of YBa2Cu3O7-delta (YBCO) and xBaCuO(2) (x=0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3) were prepared by solid reaction. The Rietveld refinements of X-ray powder diffraction data show that BaCuO2 addition was successfully produced in superconductor YBCO and the unit-cell parameters of YBCO reach a maximum at x=0.05. The critical current density (J(c)) also reaches a maximum at x=0.05 and then decreases sharply with increasing amount of BaCuO2. The change of J(c) as a function of x was found to be similar to those of the unit-cell parameters. The characteristic behavior of J(c) may come from the structure-parameter change of YBCO caused by BaCuO2 addition. (C) 2010 International Centre for Diffraction Data. [DOI: 10.1154/1.3478854]