Ten Minute Preparation Of Yba 2 Cu 3 O 7−x Using Barium Hydroxide

High quality bulk YBa 2 CuO x−7 was synthesized by fusing stoichiometric amounts of yttrium and copper nitrates and barium hydroxide, in air, using an ordinary Bunsen burner. The starting materials go through a short-lived liquid phase yielding a solid black product which was subsequently heat treated, (900 C, 18–24 h, in air, followed by 500 C, 5 h., in O 2 ). These materials were greater than 99% phase pure with CuO as the only other phase and they exhibited a transition temperature of 92 K, a 15.5% perfect diamagnetic response (field cooled), 76% (zero field cooled). This synthesis represents an improvement over the much more labor and time intensive conventional methods in that it allows high quality materials of various compositions to be prepared quickly