A water-based sol–gel technique for chemical solution deposition of (RE)Ba2Cu3O7−y(RE = Nd and Y) superconducting thin films

The achievement of low-cost deposition techniques for high critical current (RE)Ba 2 Cu 3 O 7− y -coated conductors is one of the major objectives in achieving a widespread use of superconductivity in power applications. Chemical solution deposition techniques are appearing as a very promising methodology to achieve highly textured oxide thin films at a low cost, so an intense effort is being carried out to develop routes for all chemically coated conductor tapes. In this work recent achievements will be presented towards the goal of the development of an environmentally friendly, completely water-based sol–gel technique for the deposition of thin superconducting films on SrTiO 3 single-crystal substrates using the dip coat technique. A comparison is made between aqueous sol–gel synthesis of two (RE)Ba 2 Cu 3 O 7− y superconducting systems: YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7− y and its homologue NdBa 2 Cu 3 O 7− y . Our conclusions are that YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7− y still remains the material of choice for coated conductor development using this sol–gel technique, with a T c,onset of 91 K and J c of 0.3 MA cm −2 .