An in situ self-assembly strategy for exact-(110)-plane-controlled crystallization of high-performance YBa2Cu3O7−δ single grains

• Published in: Ceramics international Vol. 48; no. 15; pp. 22237 - 22246
• Main Authors: Zhu, Yanhan, Zmorayová, Katarína, He, Jinyu, Zhang, Yuxuan, Diko, Pavel, Zhou, Difan, Yao, Xin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2022
• Subjects: Grain boundaries; Grain growth; In situ self-assembly; Magnetic properties; Oxide superconductors; Grain boundaries; In situ self-assembly; Oxide superconductors; Grain growth; Magnetic properties
• ISSN: 0272-8842; 1873-3956
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2022.04.221

YBa2Cu3O7−δ (YBCO) single grain, as a pivotal and popular oxide ceramic, is of great importance in practical applications for its considerable potential in magnetic properties. Normally, sizable YBCO bulk superconductors are fabricated by multi-seeded melt-growth for time saving. However, the performance of such bulks has long suffered from certain methodological barriers related to artificially induced imperfect-seeding, involving unreliable precision in seeding alignment and detrimental impact on grain boundaries. Here, a facile but effective in situ self-assembly (ISSA) strategy is reported for seeding structural design, in which exactly (110)/(110)-aligned twin-seeds naturally arise through the self-replication of crystallographic orientation from one small seed during thermal procedure. Distinctively, after two induced grains impinging, a [110]-oriented growth zone emerges and expands to the edge of the sample, leading to a contamination-free homo-combination. As a result, 25 mm diameter fully-grown bulks with single-grain quality were reliably attained, which exhibited superior levitation forces up to 65.1 N and field trapping capability up to 0.8943 T with a prominent feature of mono-peak. The ISSA seeding strategy in this work, with its nature in achieving exact seeding alignment, is widely applicable for the preparation of other high-performance bulks in the YBCO family.