Electrodeposited Gd2Zr2O7 and Gd2O3 Buffer Layers for YBa2Cu3O7-δ Superconductors

Non-vacuum electrodeposition (ED) was used to prepare a biaxially textured Gd₂Zr₂O₇ (GZO) and GZO/Gd₂O₃ (GO) buffer layer on a Ni-W substrate. The YBa₂Cu₃O_7−δ (YBCO) superconductor was deposited by pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) on a simplified ED-GZO and ED-GZO/ED-GO buffer layer. The buffer layers and YBCO superconductor were characterized by X-ray diffraction (including θ/2θ, pole figure, omega scans, and phi scans) and atomic force microscopy. Full-width at half maximum values of the omega (ω) and phi (Φ) scans of the electrodeposited GZO and GZO/GO layer were better than those of the Ni-W base substrate. At 77 K and a self-magnetic field, the critical current density of PLD YBCO on the electrodeposited-based buffer layer was 3.3 × 10⁶ A/cm², using the field criterion of 1 μV/cm.