Fabrication of cube textured NiO seed layer for YBCO coated conductor

The cube textured NiO was formed on pure Ni tape using a simple approach of oxidizing the surface of the Ni tape for 3-20 min in air at 1130-1200 °C. The thickness of the NiO layer was about 1-5 μm. X-ray diffraction (XRD) θ-2θ scan, ω-scan, φ-scan, and pole figure were employed to characterize the in-plane alignment and cube texture of NiO film, and they showed that the NiO film was cube textured. The integrated intensity ratio of NiO I(200)/{I(200)+I(111)} was more than 99%, and the in-plane and out of plane full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the NiO buffer layer were 6.8° and 6.6°, respectively. Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) as a barrier layer and CeO₂ as a cap one were deposited by pulsed laser deposition (PLD), and YBa₂Cu₃O_7-x (YBCO) layer was prepared on them by PLD as well. YBCO superconducting layer with critical temperature (T_c)>88 K and critical current density (J_c) >4×10⁵ A/cm² (77 K, 0 T) has been obtained successfully on Ni tape with a textured NiO seed layer.