Enhancement in superconducting properties of Bi2Sr2Ca1Cu2O8+θ (Bi-2212) by means of boron oxide additive

By using a solid state method, Bi2Sr2Ca1Cu2O8+theta (Bi-2212) polycrystalline samples were synthesized with the addition of boron oxide additive, with the aim of improving the performance of this compound for large scale applications. As the first step, the parameters for the solid state method, in particular sintering temperature, were optimized in order to obtain pure Bi-2212 samples with an optimal microstructure. Then, based on this optimization, the properties of the Bi2Sr2Ca1Cu2BxOy samples with x = 0.05, 0.1, and 0.2 were studied using several characterization techniques. It was found that the sample having x = 0.05 showed a magnetic hysteresis loop larger than that of the pure Bi-2212 sample and a critical current density value of 3.71 x 10(5) A/cm(2), comparable to the best results found in the literature for Bi-2212, while preserving well-stacked and oriented grains. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.