Cost-effective electrodeposition of an oxide buffer for high-temperature superconductor coated conductors

It is demonstrated that electrodeposition is a promising cost-effective technique to grow oxide buffer on metallic tapes. The resultant layer of CeO2 shows the biaxial texture of FWHM = 5.5 degrees as well as a smooth surface of RMS = 2.0 nm, and YBa2Cu3O7-delta coated conductor with such a buffer exhibits the critical current density of 1.85 MA cm(-2) at 77 K. Of more interest is that the CeO2 film thickness reaches a high value of more than 200 nm without any cracks, while it is very hard to achieve a thickness of more than 70 nm in the conventional vapor deposition methods employed.