MERCURY SUPERCONDUCTORS CRYSTAL-GROWTH UNDER HIGH-PRESSURE AND HIGH-TEMPERATURE INFLUENCED BY CRUCIBLE COMPOSITION

Here we report investigations on chemical reactions among flux contain ing Hg, Ba, Ca, Cu, O and crucibles made of Al2O3, Y2O3 and BaZrO3, Mu ltiple research works done on oxide superconductors containing mercury allowed to compose the first approach of p-T-x conditions of synthesi s, The rich complexity of this system is correlated with the variety o f chemical reactions among the melted flux and the crucible and/or sub strate or seed immersed in it. We obtain quite large, up to 2x2 mm(2), flat single crystals. Here we present the results of our investigatio n of the influence of p-T-x conditions on reactions between the batch and the various crucibles, The XRD patterns, morphology by SEM and EDX analysis are shown. We can conclude that BaZrO3 crucible reveals to b e the most neutral for the crystallization process.