Morphological and Crystallinity Influence of Silver and UVC Irradiation on YBCO-123 Ceramic Nanofibers
Alfonso Pulgar, Edimar Duran, Matheus Paniago, Rodolfo Izquierdo and Rafael Zadorosny
Sao Paulo State University (UNESP), School of Engineering, Department of Physics and Chemistry, Laboratory of Superconductivity and Advanced Materials, Ilha Solteira
Abstract:
Nanofibers are a distinctive class of one-dimensional nanomaterials with significant applications across medical, environmental, and technological fields. Superconducting nanofibers, in particular, have garnered attention for both fundamental research and practical uses, owing to their remarkable properties such as high critical temperature, excellent thermal conductivity, and elevated critical current density. In this study, ceramic nanofibers of YBa₂Cu₃O₇−δ (YBCO-123) were synthesized with the addition of 0.2 and 20 wt% silver, using polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as both reducing agent and stabilizer. The fibers were produced via the Solution Blow Spinning (SBS) technique, and UVC light was applied during different steps of the process. When UVC irradiation was applied to blanket without PVP, the endothermic peak associated with metallic silver melting disappeared in the sample with 0.2 wt% Ag, while it was reduced in intensity for the sample containing 20 wt% Ag. In contrast, UVC irradiation of blankets containing PVP led to a visible color change in the 20 wt% Ag solution after one hour, with no significant change observed in the other solution. Following SBS processing and subsequent heat treatment, SEM analysis revealed morphological modifications in the nanofibers. XRD confirmed the formation of the Y123 ceramic phase with an orthorhombic structure, regardless of UVC exposure, as indicated by the presence of its characteristic crystallographic planes. Furthermore, two additional peaks at 38.1° and 44.4°, corresponding to the (200) and (111) planes of metallic silver, were detected exclusively in the sample with 20 wt% Ag.
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