CSD-Grown Y_1-xGd_xBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ-BaHfO₃ Nanocomposite Films on Ni5W and IBAD Technical Substrates

Chemical solution deposition (CSD) was used to grow Y_1-xGd_xBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ-BaHfO₃ (YGBCO-BHO) nanocomposite films containing 12 mol% BHO nanoparticles and various amounts of Gd, x, on two kinds of buffered metallic tapes: Ni5W and IBAD. The influence of the rare-earth stoichiometry on structure, morphology and superconducting properties of these films was studied. The growth process was carefully studied in order to find the most appropriate growth conditions for each composition and substrate. This led to a clear improvement in film quality, probably due to the reduction of BaCeO₃ formation. In general, the superconducting properties of the films on Ni5W are significantly better. For x > 0.5, epitaxial ~270 nm thick YGBCO-BHO films with T_c > 93 K and self-field J_c at 77 K ~2 MA/cm² were obtained on Ni5W. These results highlight the potential of this approach for the fabrication of high-quality coated conductors.