Structural and Superconducting Properties of Magnetically Doped Bi-2212 Textured Rods Grown by Laser Floating Zone (LFZ) Technique

In this work, we have applied the laser floating zone technique, a well-known method to produce highly aligned crystals and dense morphology, with improved transport properties, to obtain Bi₂Sr₂Ca₁Cu_2?x Ni _x O (x=0, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05 and 0.1) fibers of about 1.8 mm diameter ×12 cm length. Microstructural and magnetic properties of textured materials grown in the optimum conditions were analyzed through scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), powder XRD patterns, M–T and M–H loops. XRD analysis showed that addition of Ni at x=0.1 level caused the formation of small amounts of Bi-2201 phase. Thermal treatment has produced the agglomeration of Ni particles up to a few μm, detected by dot mapping EDX. Both T _c-onset and J _cmag values of the annealed rods decreased with the increasing Ni substitution rate, determined from the M–T and M–H loops, respectively.