Studies on physical properties of nanostructured Zn doped Bi-2223 superconductors

Samples of (Bi,Pb)2Sr2Ca2Cu3-xZnxO10+δ (Bi-2223, x=0.0 to 0.30) were synthesized by solid-state reaction route. We carefully synthesized these compounds and characterized them for phase formation, structural/microstructural, electrical and magnetic measurements. The phase identification /gross structural characteristics of synthesized (HTSC) materials explored through powder x-ray diffractometer reveals that all the samples crystallize in orthorhombic structure with lattice parameters a = 0.5405 nm, b = 0.5422 nm and c = 3.7063 nm) up to Zn concentration of x = 0.30. The critical temperature (Tc) measured by standard four probe method has been found to depress from 108 K to 92 K and transport current density (Jc) has been increased from Zn content (x) increases from 0.00 to 0.30. The surface morphology/topography explored by scanning electron and atomic force microscopy (SEM & AFM) shows that microspheres/ nanospheres like structures, voids, grains size & porosity on the surface of the Zn doped Bi-2223 sample increases as the Zn concentration increases. From the magnetic properties measurement (M-H), the ac susceptibility (χac) and the lower (Hc1) & upper (Hc2) critical magnetic field were observed at 10 K from the M-H loop respectively.