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Zinc (Zn) nanoparticles and (Cu0.5Tl0.5)Ba2Ca2Cu3O10-δ (CuTl-1223) superconducting phase were prepared separately by sol–gel and solid-state reaction methods, respectively. Zn nanoparticles were added in CuTl-1223 superconducting matrix with different weight percentage during the final sintering process to obtain (Zn)x/CuTl-1223 (x = 0–4 wt%) nanoparticle–superconductor composites. The effect of Zn nanoparticles on structural, morphological, superconducting, and dielectric properties of CuTl-1223 phase was investigated. The addition of these Zn nanoparticles has not affected the crystal structure of host CuTl-1223 superconducting phase. Superconducting properties were enhanced after the addition of Zn nanoparticles up to certain optimum content (i.e., x = 1 wt%), which were due to improved inter-grain connectivity by healing up of micro-cracks and reduction of defects like oxygen deficiencies, etc. The activation energy (U) was increased after the addition of Zn nanoparticles in CuTl-1223 phase. The dielectric properties of these samples (i.e., dielectric constant, dielectric loss) were determined by experimentally measured capacitance (C) and conductance (G) as a function of frequency at room temperature. The addition of metallic Zn nanoparticles in CuTl-1223 matrix has overall suppressed the dielectric parameters of (Zn)x/CuTl-1223 nanoparticle– superconductor composites. The metallic Zn nanoparticles played a significant role in inter-grain couplings by filling the voids and pores.
Zinc (Zn) nanoparticles and (Cu0.5Tl0.5)Ba2Ca2Cu3O10-δ (CuTl-1223) superconducting phase were prepared separately by sol–gel and solid-state reaction methods, respectively. Zn nanoparticles were added in CuTl-1223 superconducting matrix with different weight percentage during the final sintering process to obtain (Zn)x/CuTl-1223 (x = 0–4 wt%) nanoparticle–superconductor composites. The effect of Zn nanoparticles on structural, morphological, superconducting, and dielectric properties of CuTl-1223 phase was investigated. The addition of these Zn nanoparticles has not affected the crystal structure of host CuTl-1223 superconducting phase. Superconducting properties were enhanced after the addition of Zn nanoparticles up to certain optimum content (i.e., x = 1 wt%), which were due to improved inter-grain connectivity by healing up of micro-cracks and reduction of defects like oxygen deficiencies, etc. The activation energy (U) was increased after the addition of Zn nanoparticles in CuTl-1223 phase. The dielectric properties of these samples (i.e., dielectric constant, dielectric loss) were determined by experimentally measured capacitance (C) and conductance (G) as a function of frequency at room temperature. The addition of metallic Zn nanoparticles in CuTl-1223 matrix has overall suppressed the dielectric parameters of (Zn)x/CuTl-1223 nanoparticle– superconductor composites. The metallic Zn nanoparticles played a significant role in inter-grain couplings by filling the voids and pores.
Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan is acknowledged for financial support through Project No. 20-1482/R&D/09-1472. Authors are also highly thankful to Prof. Xiang-Gang Qiu, Beijing National Laboratory of Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics (IOP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China, for providing the characterization facilities.
Open Access The articles published in this journal are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.