Effect of impurity phase and high-pressure synthesis on the superconducting properties of CaKFe4As4

Abstract

AeAFe4As4 (Ae = Ca, A = K; 1144) having a transition temperature of 35 K is a stoichiometric family of iron-based superconductors (FBS). Here, we present a detailed study of a high-pressure synthesis of CaKFe4As4 bulks to investigate the impact of these conditions on the superconducting properties of the 1144 family. Additionally, these samples are also prepared by conventional synthesis method at ambient pressure (CSP) and studied the influence of impurities on the superconducting properties of CaKFe4As4. Structural, microstructural, transport and magnetization measurements have been performed to reach the final conclusions. Interestingly, the high-pressure synthesis of the parent CaKFe4As4 compound enhances the transition temperature (Tc) by 2 K and the critical current density (Jc) by one order of magnitude in the whole magnetic field range of 9 T than that of the 1144 bulks prepared by CSP. It suggests the improvement of the pinning centers and grain connections by the high-pressure synthesis approach. Interestingly, our results depict the superconducting onset transition temperature (Tconset) of this stoichiometric 1144 family is robust with the presence of the common 122 (CaFe2As2 or KFe2As2) impurity phases, which is a different behavior compared to other FBS families. However, these impurity phases reduce the grain connections and lead to the phase separation during the formation of the superconducting (1144) phase.