Superconductivity and Critical Current Density of MgO-Added Tl0.5Pb0.5Sr1.8Yb0.2CaCu2O7

In this work, the effects of nanometer-sized MgO addition (0-0.8 wt%) on superconducting and bulk properties of Yb-doped TlSr1212 prepared by solid state synthesis from Tl0.5Pb0.5Sr1.8Yb0.2CaCu2O7 starting composition was investigated. It was observed that addition of small amount of MgO improved the superconducting properties and transport critical current density of bulk Tl1212. Transport critical current density (Jc) at 60 K for the sample with 0.1 wt% MgO was more than double the Jc for the sample without MgO. The results showed that appropriate nano-MgO addition effectively improves the flux pinning ability of Tl1212. XRD and SEM investigations are also presented and discussed.