Synthesis and characterization of core shell Ni/NiO nanoparticles/CuTl-1223 superconductor composites

Core-shell nickel/nickel-oxide (Ni/NiO) nanoparticles/Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2Cu3O10-delta (CuTl-1223) superconductor composites were synthesized by solid-state reaction. The effect of these nanoparticles inclusion on structural and superconducting properties of CuTl-1223 matrix was investigated. Structural, morphological, and compositional properties were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy respectively. Superconducting transport properties were explored by dc-resistivity (rho) measurements and the different oxygen vibrational modes of the composites were observed by Fourier transforms infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The variation of critical temperature (T-c) depends upon the nanoparticles contents in the host superconducting matrix. The overall suppression of T-c with increasing nanoparticles concentration is most probably due to trapping of mobile free carriers and pair-breaking caused by the reflection/scattering of carriers across these nanoparticles having net magnetic moment of metallic nickel in the core of nanoparticles. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.