We studied the flux pinning properties of BaZrO 3 -doped YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7−x and BaSnO 3 -doped YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7−x films. We found that BaSnO 3 -doped films showed very high global pinning forces, F p , of 28.3 GN m −3 (77 K, B c) and 103 GN m −3 (65 K, B c), twice that of BaZrO 3 -doped films. Transmission electron microscopy analysis showed that, in both films, nanorods of the dopant phase were incorporated. The BaSnO 3 nanorods were nearly straight but the BaZrO 3 nanorods became curved with the increasing film thickness.

Crystalline defects on the nano-scale, which are called artificial pinning centers (APCs), were successfully introduced into high-temperature superconductors (HTS) by nanotechnology, in order to strongly pin the quantized vortices. The critical current densities, Jc, of the HTS films were dramatically improved by APCs. It is possible to form APCs in high-quality epitaxial films, keeping the desired dimensionality, volume fraction, spatial distribution and so on. The in-field Jc of HTS films at 77 K was improved by one order of magnitude compared with previous values using APCs. This technology can be applied to the coated conductor technology in progress, and a high Jc has already been reported. A current outline of the research is described in this review.

Because of pressing global environmental challenges, focus has been placed on materials for efficient energy use, and this has triggered the search for nanostructural modification methods to improve performance. Achieving a high density of tunable-sized second-phase nanoparticles while ensuring the matrix remains intact is a long-sought goal. In this paper, we present an effective, scalable method to achieve this goal using metal organic deposition in a perovskite system REBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 (rare earth (RE)) that enhances the superconducting properties to surpass that of previous achievements. We present two industrially compatible routes to tune the nanoparticle size by controlling diffusion during the nanoparticle formation stage by selecting the second-phase material and modulating the precursor composition spatially. Combining these routes leads to an extremely high density (8 × 10 22 m − 3 ) of small nanoparticles (7 nm) that increase critical currents and reduce detrimental effects of thermal fluctuations at all magnetic field strengths and temperatures. This method can be directly applied to other perovskite materials where nanoparticle addition is beneficial.

YBa2Cu3O7−x+Y2O3-stabilized ZrO2 (YBCO+YSZ) mixed films were prepared on SrTiO3/MgO substrates by pulsed-laser deposition from a YBCO target with a thin YSZ sector on top. The Jc at 77 K for the mixed YBCO+YSZ thin film was enhanced. The Jc at 77 K for the pure film and the mixed YBCO+YSZ thin film were 1.46 and 1.95 MA cm−2 (self field) (and 0.09 and 0.28 MA cm−2 (, B = 5 T)), respectively, even when both films were prepared using the same deposition conditions. The maximum pinning force of a doped film (77 K, ) was 15.9 GN m−3, which is comparable to the value reached by NbTi at 4.2 K. In the YSZ-added sample, the angular dependence of Jc showed a broad peak at due to the flux pinning by the c-axis correlated defects. Elongated nanorods grown parallel to the c axis were consistently observed in the cross-sectional TEM images.