Sol–gel synthesis of fine-particle superconducting oxide, YBa2Cu3O7−x

Abstract
A sol-gel method of preparing fine-particle superconducting oxide YBa2Cu3O7−x was developed. Single-phase superconducting oxide YBa2Cu3O7−x formed at temperatures as low as 750°. The particle size obtained by this method was found to be ≤0.2μm. Pellets sintered from these sol-gel powders exhibited very sharp resistivity drops at Tc = 90 °C with a Δc of ∼3°K.