Oxide films for the protection of cuprate superconductors

This paper reports on the cuprate superconductors that rapidly degrade in moisture and in the presence of organic compounds. A protection method has been developed with a coating process using sol/gel routes to the low temperature formation of oxide films. In contrast to traditional protective films amorphous silica films formed from a solution precursors gave excellent protection and caused little degradation of the superconductors. The protective abilities of the films were assessed by monitoring the degradation of Y1Ba2Cu3O7-d in the presence of 85% relative humidity at 85 C. Volume magnetic susceptibility, four-point probe resistivity, current density measurements and x-ray diffraction were performed