YBCO films with Zr4+ doping grown by MOD method

YBa2Cu3O7-delta (YBCO) films with Zr doping have been prepared successfully by the trifluoroacetate metal-organic deposition (TFA-MOD) method through dissolving Zr acetylacetonate into the precursor solution. Yttria-stabilized zirconia(YSZ)nanoparticles were detected in the doped YBCO films by XRD. From the analysis of XRD omega and phi scans, the doped films have better out-of-plane and in-plane textures than those of the un-doped YBCO film. Although the doped YBCO films have lower T-c than that of the un-doped YBCO film, a very significant enhancement of normalized J(c) is displayed as compared to the undoped film at applied fields, indicating that an effective pinning force was created by Zr doping.