Authorship：Corresponding author   Language：Japanese   Publisher：The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan  

<p>The discovery of new superconductors has a significant impact on the scientific and engineering communities, unraveling interesting physical phenomena and providing unique applications in energy and devices. Superconductors with a high critical temperature are limited to a few families, such as cuprates, iron-based compounds, and hydrides under ultra-high pressure. In traditional studies, the exploration of new superconductors relies on theories, experiments, and simulations. However, recent advances in data science have made machine learning available in a variety of fields, including materials informatics. Utilizing superconductor databases and various regression methods, machine learning has proposed several new superconductors. The chemical descriptors are widely used, and the descriptor of the crystalline structure is being developed for more accurate prediction. In this review, the theoretical and experimental studies for the discovery of new superconductors are explained. The available database and data-driven studies are also shown. Furthermore, after reviewing the recent machine learning studies for the discovery of new superconductors and other materials, future aspects in this field are discussed.</p>

DOI： 10.1541/ieejfms.144.344

Scopus

CiNii Research

Authorship：Last author,　Corresponding author   Language：English   Publisher：Superconductor Science and Technology  

YBa2Cu3O7 coated conductors are a strategic material for superconducting applications such as high field magnets, fusion, and motors. Grain boundaries reduce the critical current density (Jc) even at a tilt angle as low as 5°, but the successful development of the highly oriented substrates seemed to overcome the weak link problem at grain boundaries. However, it reappears when we visit the homogeneity of the coated conductors. To suppress the weak link in the coated conductors, the Ca doping was investigated. The Ca-doped YBa2Cu3O7 films were fabricated on the moderately oriented substrates. While the grain boundaries in the moderately oriented substrates significantly degraded the Jc without Ca doping, the Ca doping improved the Jc especially at low temperature. This indicates that the tilt angle dependence of Jc was varied by the Ca doping. While the Jc for the moderately oriented substrate was 20 times smaller than that for the highly oriented substrate, the Ca doping restored 1/2 of the Jc for the highly oriented substrate at 40 K and 9 T. The vortex structure changed from Abrikosov Josephson vortices to the Abrikosov vortices with increasing the Ca content. The combination of Ca doping and moderate substrate texture is another design of coated conductors. The Ca doping can patch the local degradation of the substrate texture to mass produce the practical coated conductors with improved homogeneity.

DOI： 10.1088/1361-6668/ad68d7

Web of Science

Scopus

Authorship：Last author,　Corresponding author   Language：English   Publisher：ACS Applied Electronic Materials  

Fabrication of YBa2Cu3O7 nanocomposite films on silicon substrates is required for superconducting electromagnetic devices. Low-temperature deposition is effective in suppressing the chemical reaction between YBa2Cu3O7 and Si, while sufficient diffusion is required to form the well-defined nanocomposite structure. The fabrication of the YBa2Cu3O7 nanocomposite films on Si substrates should simultaneously satisfy these conflicting requirements. A YSZ (yttrium stabilized zirconia) buffer layer was epitaxially grown on Si substrates to suppress the chemical reaction. Then, the YBa2Cu3O7 + Ba2YbNbO6 films were fabricated on the YSZ/Si. The nanorods with diameters of 9-17 nm were elongated along the c-axis even at the low deposition temperature. The YBa2Cu3O7 + Ba2YbNbO6 nanocomposite film exhibited a critical temperature of 86.0 K, which is comparable to the critical temperature of 85.6 K in the pure film. The irreversibility temperature was slightly improved by the nanorods. Thus, we demonstrate the formation of nanorods in the YBa2Cu3O7 films on Si substrates without lowering the critical temperature. This opens the superconducting electromagnetic devices integrated with high-temperature superconductors and semiconductors.

DOI： 10.1021/acsaelm.4c00612

Web of Science

Scopus

Publisher：Superconductivity  

The pinning of quantized magnetic vortices in superconducting YBa2Cu3O7- δ(YBCO or Y123) thin films with Y2BaCuO5 (Y211) nanoinclusions have been investigated over wide temperature range (4.2–77 K). The concentration of Y211 nanoinclusions has been systematically varied inside YBCO thin films prepared by laser ablation technique using surface modified target approach. Large pinning force density values (Fp ∼ 0.5 TNm−3 at 4.2 K, 9 T) have been observed for the YBCO film with moderate concentration of Y211 nanoinclusions (3.6 area % on ablation target). In addition, uniform enhancement in critical current density (Jc) was observed in the angular dependent Jc measurement of YBCO+Y211 nanocomposite films. Y211 nanoinclusions have been found to be very efficient in pinning the quantized vortices thereby enhancing the in-field Jc values over a wide range of temperature. Increasing the concentration of Y211 secondary phase into Y123 film matrix results into agglomeration of Y211 phase and observed as increased Y211 nanoparticle size. These larger secondary phase nanoparticles are not as efficient pinning centers at lower temperatures as they are at higher temperatures due to substantial reduction of the coherence length at lower temperatures. Investigation of the temperature dependence of Jc for YBCO+Y211 nanocomposite films has been conducted and possible vortex pinning mechanism in these nanocomposite films has been discussed.

DOI： 10.1016/j.supcon.2024.100087

Web of Science

Scopus

Authorship：Last author,　Corresponding author   Publisher：ACS Applied Electronic Materials  

To improve the thermoelectric properties of SnSe films, carrier control is required, but elemental doping is difficult due to the thermodynamic solubility limit. Isovalent elements may generate holes or electrons not in a direct manner but in the manner to form point defects. In this study, the Sn(Se,Te) films were fabricated by a pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method to control the carrier concentration by substituting isovalent Te for Se. The coexistence of the orthorhombic and cubic phases at the tens of nanometer scale in the SnSe0.5Te0.5 film was clarified by the structural observation, which is consistent with the equilibrium phase diagram. In spite of the phase coexistence, the lattice parameters linearly increased with an increase in the Te content in the Sn(Se,Te) films. This demonstrates the metastable composition situation for each phase, namely, the carrier control beyond the thermodynamic limit due to the nonequilibrium growth in PLD. As a result, the Seebeck coefficient decreased, and the electrical conductivity increased to increase the power factor, especially in a low temperature near room temperature. The Te substitution in the nonequilibrium PLD increases the hole concentration beyond the thermodynamic solubility limit and thus is effective in controlling the carrier in the SnSe films where carrier doping is difficult.

DOI： 10.1021/acsaelm.3c01490

Web of Science

Scopus

Authorship：Lead author,　Corresponding author   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：ACS Applied Energy Materials  

Thermoelectric energy conversion is promising for high-efficiency power generation. The p- and n-type thermoelectric materials are required to fabricate high-performance thermoelectric modules. SnSe is one of the highest-performance thermoelectric materials, and SnSe films should be fabricated for small-scale applications. While the p-type SnSe films can be easily prepared without precise control of the doping, it is difficult to control the electron concentration in the n-type SnSe films. In this study, the Bi-doped SnSe films were fabricated at low deposition temperatures by using the self-buffer layer, namely, the SnSe-based buffer layers. The low-temperature deposition on the buffer layer increased the concentration of doped Bi, although the contribution of the buffer layer to the electronic conduction was observed. The π-type thermoelectric module consisting of p-type SnSe and n-type SnSe/buffer layers was fabricated. The output power of 0.09 μW and the open-circuit voltage of 0.11 V were obtained at 155 °C at the cold end and 255 °C at the hot end. The feasibility of fabricating the π-type SnSe film module was demonstrated. By optimizing the buffer layer thickness and increasing the number of legs, we expect the module performance to be further improved.

DOI： 10.1021/acsaem.3c02683

Web of Science

Scopus

Authorship：Last author,　Corresponding author  

DOI： 10.35848/1347-4065/ad009f

Web of Science

Authorship：Lead author,　Corresponding author   Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)  

DOI： 10.1088/1361-6668/acecad

DOI： 10.1063/5.0155145

Web of Science

Authorship：Lead author,　Corresponding author  

DOI： 10.1063/5.0153801

Web of Science

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (international conference proceedings)  

DOI： 10.7566/JPSCP.38.011044

Authorship：Lead author,　Corresponding author   Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)  

DOI： 10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c09324

Authorship：Lead author,　Corresponding author   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)  

Authorship：Lead author,　Corresponding author   Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)  

DOI： 10.1021/acsaelm.2c00438

Authorship：Lead author,　Corresponding author   Language：English