title: Microstructure and superconductivity of highly ordered YBa(2)Cu(3)O(7-δ) nanowire arrays.
abstract: In order to explore the fundamental properties of one-dimensional nanostructured high-temperature superconductors and enhance their promising applications, a universal and general method for the synthesis of high-quality YBa(2)Cu(3)O(7-δ) (YBCO) nanowire arrays is developed, which involves the combination of a novel sol-gel process to lower the crystallization temperature of YBCO, and porous anodic alumina (PAA) as an effective morphology-directing hard template. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results indicate that the as-prepared YBCO nanowires have average diameters of about 50 nm and lengths up to several microns. The structures of the samples were analysed by x-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) analysis, which indicate that the nanowires are well crystallized with orthorhombic YBCO-123 structure. The magnetization measurement under zero-field-cooled (ZFC) mode indicates that the superconducting transition temperature (T(c)) of the nanowires is about 92 K, which is in agreement with that of a bulk YBCO sample.
authors: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People's Republic of China.
authors: Genqiang
authors: G
authors: Zhang
authors: Xiaoli
authors: X
authors: Lu
authors: Tao
authors: T
authors: Zhang
authors: Jifeng
authors: J
authors: Qu
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Wang
authors: Xiaoguang
authors: X
authors: Li
authors: Shuhong
authors: S
authors: Yu