Critical Current Density, <i>J_c </i> Improvement of BSCCO Superconductor Tapes with Nano Co₃O₄ Addition

The (Bi1.6Pb0.4)Sr2Ca2Cu3Oy(Co3O4)x superconductor with addition of 0.00 - 0.05 weight per cent of Co3O4 nanoparticle with average size around 10 ± 4 nm was prepared using the co-precipitation method. Ag-sheathed Bi-2223 tapes with the highest critical current density, Jc of bulk (Bi1.6Pb0.4)Sr2Ca2Cu3Oy(Co3O4)x were fabricated using the powder-in-tube (PIT) method. The tapes were heat-treated at 845°C for 50 h. The structure, microstructure and transport critical current density (Jc) of the tapes were conducted using X-Ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and four point-probe respectively. The enhancement of critical current density, Jc through the addition of Co3O4 (10 nm) nanoparticles is reported. Our results show that all nanoparticles added samples for bulk and tape showed higher Jc compared to the non-added samples. The increase in Jc can be explained as the increase of the flux pinning strength by nanoparticles of Co3O4 that can act as effective pinning centres or a boost leading to enhancement of Jc in the Bi-2223 system.