Effect of La Doping on the Crystal Structure, Electric, Magnetic and Morphologic Properties of the BSCCO System

Abstract

Studies of the doping process can provide a better understanding of the superconducting mechanisms in cuprous oxide materials. In this work, we studied the doping effects on the crystal structure, electric, morphologic and magnetic properties of the BSCCO system with the nominal composition Bi1.6Pb0.4Sr(2-x)RExCa2Cu3O(10-δ). Here, the rare earth element (RE) was replaced by La in the sites of Sr. The x was ranged from 0.0 to 2.0, in steps of 0.5. The samples were prepared based on Pechini's method. The resulting powder was pressed at room temperature and the pellets were submitted to several heat treatments. The characterizations confirm the La in the sites of Sr however; the superconducting properties of the sample were not improved.