Effect of yttrium doping on structural and electrical properties of Bi2Sr1.9Ca0.1-xYxCu2O7+δ (Bi-2202) cuprate ceramics

Abstract

In this work, we report on the effect of Y3+ doping on structural, mechanical and electrical properties of Bi-2202 phase. Samples of Bi2Sr1.9Ca0.1−xYxCu2O7+δ with x = 0, 0.025, 0.05, 0.075 and 0.10 are elaborated in air by conventional solid state reaction and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) combined with EDS spectroscopy, density, Vickers microhardness and resistivity measurements. A good correlation between the variations of the bulk density and the Vickers microhardness with doping is obtained. The SEM photograph shows that the samples are composed of grains with a flat shape that characterizes the Bi-based cuprates. Quantitative EDS analysis confirms the reduction of Ca content and the increase of Y content when x is increased. The variation of resistivity with temperature shows that only samples with x = 0, 0.025 and 0.05 present an onset transition to the superconducting state. The higher onset transition temperature is obtained for x = 0.025 and is about 93.62 K. The transition is wide and is realized in two steps confirming then the presence of the low Tc Bi-2201 phase in the samples. For x = 0.075 and 0.10, a transition to a semiconducting state is seen at low temperatures. Some physical parameters are extracted from these curves and discussed.