Fabrication of YBa2Cu4O8 films by electrophoretic deposition technique

Authors fabricated YBa2Cu4O8 films on Ag substrates by electrophoretic deposition. A citrate-pyrolysis technique was employed for preparing nanosized starting materials. Calcinated YBa2Cu4O8 clusters were ground and sonicated in an I and acetone bath. A combination with these building-up and breaking-down processes yielded ultrafine and homogeneous YBa2Cu4O8 particles. The electrophoretically deposited films were sintered in 1 bar O2 at 780 C for 100 h. XRD patterns of the films assured YBa2Cu4O8 single phase. Temperature dependence of the magnetization with zero-field-cooling showed a diamagnetic character below 80 K. Authors carried out reduced O heat treatment for as-deposited films. XRD patterns of the films showed YBa2Cu3O7-d phase, which suggests a reduction of peritectic temperature in YBa2Cu4O8. 10 refs.