INFLUENCE OF STACKING-FAULTS AND TEMPERATURE ON THE STRUCTURE OF Y2BA4CU7O15, INVESTIGATED BY HIGH-RESOLUTION NEUTRON-DIFFRACTION AND ELECTRON-MICROSCOPY
P. Berastegui et al., INFLUENCE OF STACKING-FAULTS AND TEMPERATURE ON THE STRUCTURE OF Y2BA4CU7O15, INVESTIGATED BY HIGH-RESOLUTION NEUTRON-DIFFRACTION AND ELECTRON-MICROSCOPY, Journal of solid state chemistry, 127(1), 1996, pp. 31-39
The temperature dependence of the structure of the high-T-c supercondu
ctor Y2Ba4Cu7O15-delta (Y-247) has been studied by high-resolution neu
tron powder diffraction. This structure can be described as alternatin
g single CuO chain (123) and double CuO chain (124) blocks. Two fully
oxidized polycrystalline Y-247 samples with T-c,T- onset=94.8 and 89.3
K, prepared by a sol-gel technique at 1 atm oxygen pressure, were inv
estigated in the temperature range from 5 to 100 K, and the structural
changes were determined by Rietveld analysis. The oxygen content was
found to be equal in both samples but the unit cell parameters and int
eratomic bond distances differed significantly. The structural changes
with temperature in the compound with T(c, onset)approximate to 95 K
showed that the displacements of the apical oxygen in the 123 and 124
blocks are different. In agreement with the decreased coherence length
along the c axis detected by neutron diffraction, electron diffractio
n studies showed considerable streaking in the sample with T-c=89 K wh
ereas the sample with T-c=95 K was more ordered. High-resolution elect
ron microscopy studies indicated that the reason for streaking are sta
cking faults in the -123-124-123-124-sequence that build up the struct
ure. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.