Low-cost architecture for iron-based coated conductors

The design of iron-based coated conductors (IBS-CC) with a simplified architecture is possible thanks to the material properties that allow for milder requirements on the template crystalline quality. With respect to the state-of-the-art multilayered layout, it is possible to use a single buffer layer that remains necessary for protection and to promote the oriented growth of the superconducting film. In this work, Fe(Se,Te) films are grown via pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on commercial tapes using a single, chemically deposited, CeO2-based buffer layer, and interesting properties are obtained. In detail, the preparation and characterization of the buffer layer is presented, along with the detailed analysis of the Fe(Se,Te) current transport properties. The samples show superconducting transitions with Tc0 around 12 K and critical current densities of ∼0.1 MA cm−2 at 4.2 K at zero field. These results show that the design of a low-cost IBS-CC with a single chemical buffer layer is possible.