Synthesis of mercury cuprates

Philippe Odier (1) , Agusti Sin (1) , Pierre Toulemonde (1) , Aude Bailly (1) , Sylvie Le Floch (1)

1 Laboratoire de Cristallographie

Mercury cuprates have very interesting potential applications that have not been thoroughly explored until now because of the complexity of their synthesis. This paper presents an overview of recent results concerning their processing. At first, a simple sol-gel technique is described that permits one to easily and intimately mix the precursors. The method uses the gelification of an inorganic solution of the cations by acrylamide polymerization. Mercuration of the precursor at moderate pressures (<2-5 MPa) is then discussed. The control of the total pressure during the synthesis by a simple method is shown, and this enables one to quantify some important parameters of the synthesis and to optimize the superconducting properties. This method has been also used successfully to incorporate mercury into layers of precursors and then to form thick layers of superconducting (Hg, Re)-1223, c-axis oriented. Finally, mercuration at higher pressures (up to 6 GPa) is considered and the case of the double mercury layer Hg-2212 is discussed in connection with the oxygen content of the reactants.

Domaines: Matériaux

Philippe Odier, Agusti Sin, Pierre Toulemonde, Aude Bailly, Sylvie Le Floch. Synthesis of mercury cuprates. Superconductor Science and Technology, 2000, 13, pp.1120. ⟨10.1088/0953-2048/13/8/302⟩. ⟨hal-00704543⟩