title: Flexible, ultralight, porous superconducting yarns containing shell-core magnesium diboride-carbon nanotube nanofibers.
abstract: Magnesium-diboride-coated carbon nanotube arrays are synthesized by templating carbon-nanotube aerogel sheets with boron and then converting the boron to MgB2. The resultant MgB2-CNT sheets are twisted into flexible, light-weight yarns that have a superconducting transition around 37.8 K and critical current and critical field comparable with those of existing MgB2 wires, but have about 20 times lower density than bulk MgB2.
authors.affiliation: The University of Texas at Dallas, The Alan G MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute, 800 West Campbell Road BE26, Richardson, Texas, 75080, USA; The University of Texas at Dallas, Physics Department, 800 West Campbell Road PHY36, Richardson, Texas, 75080, USA.
authors.forename: Julia S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Bykova
authors.forename: Márcio Dias
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.forename: Carter S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Haines
authors.forename: Derrick
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tolly
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Salamon
authors.forename: Ray H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Baughman
authors.forename: Anvar A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Zakhidov
keywords: carbon nanotubes; magnesium diboride; nanofiber; nanowire; superconductor