A comparative study on the influence of the addition of different nano-oxide particles on the thermopower of (Bi,Pb)-2223 superconductor

• Published in: Applied physics. A, Materials science & processing Materials science & processing, 2019-05, Vol.125 (5), Article 365
• Main Authors: Rahal, H. T., Awad, R., Abdel-Gaber, A. M., Marhaba, S., Abou-Aly, A. I.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied physics; Bismuth; Carrier density; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Comparative studies; Condensed Matter Physics; Differential thermal analysis; Electronic devices; Machines; Manufacturing; Materials science; Nanoparticles; Nanotechnology; Nickel oxides; Optical and Electronic Materials; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Processes; Scanning electron microscopy; Seebeck effect; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thermoelectricity; Thin Films; Tin dioxide; Wavelengths; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 0947-8396; 1432-0630
• DOI: 10.1007/s00339-019-2661-2

Solid-state reaction technique was used to prepare superconductor samples with nominal composition of (SnO 2 ) x (Bi,Pb)-2223 and (NiO) x (Bi,Pb)-2223, where 0.0 ≤  x  ≤ 0.2 wt%. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The impact of SnO 2 and NiO nanoparticles addition on the thermopower of (Bi,Pb)-2223 was measured using a standard differential technique. The Seebeck coefficient values in the presence of NiO nanoparticles were about 5–37.9% higher than those obtained with the addition of SnO 2 nanoparticles. Higher values of Seebeck coefficients result in a wide variety of applications of these superconductors such as electronics and thermoelectric devices. The obtained results were analyzed according to the two-band model (Fermi-liquid model) and the two-band model with an extra linear term. The Fermi velocity (υ F ), Fermi energy, Fermi temperature ( T F ), Fermi wavenumber ( K F ), Fermi wavelength ( λ F ) as well as the carrier concentration ( N / V ) values were calculated and discussed as a function of the nanoparticles content.