Effects Of Nickel Substitution On Crystalline Structure And Superconducting Properties Of Yba2cu3o7- Ceramics.

In this study, nickel-substituted YBa2(Cu1-xNix)3O7-δ (0 ≤ x ≤ 4% ) superconductor samples were prepared by the conventional solid state reaction method. The effects of Ni substitution on the structure, microstructure and superconducting properties of YBa2(Cu1-xNix)3O7-δsystemshavebeeninvestigated. The Ni-substituted induces a porous, finer grained structure. The energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis confirmed the incorporation of nickel into the grains. Raman spectroscopy shows that the Ni doping enhances the disorder at the CuO2 planes and decreases the oxygen content by the depletion from the CuO chains. The temperature dependent resistivity measurements, ρ(T) show a deviation from linearity, due to the opening of a pseudogap. DC susceptibility measurements show that the transition temperature decreases with increasing Ni content.