Investigation of diethanolamine (DEA) as a chelating agent in the fabrication of fluorine-free propionate route YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) thin films

Abstract The role of diethanolamine (DEA) as a chelating agent was investigated in a fluorine-free precursor solution for the growth of superconducting YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 (YBCO) thin films via chemical solution deposition. Infrared spectroscopy and thermal analyses were employed to elucidate the interactions between the chelating agent and propionate-based coating solution. The physical properties of the as-obtained YBCO films were investigated to assess the effect of DEA addition on film growth. Special emphasis was placed on the determination of superconducting transport properties. These have been investigated in wide magnetic field (0–18 T) and temperature (4.5–77 K) ranges to account for various possible application scenarios. The 100 nm thick YBCO film deposited on a (001) SrTiO 3 single-crystal substrate exhibited a critical current density of 4 MA cm −2 at 77 K in self-field.