2012, Prikhna, T., Gawalek, W., Eisterer, M., Weber, H.W., Noudem, J., Sokolovsky, V., Chaud, X., Moshchil, V., Karpets, M., Kovylaev, V., Borimskiy, A., Tkach, V., Kozyrev, A., Kuznietsov, R., Dellith, J., Shmidt, C., Basyuk, T., Litzkendorf, D., Karau, F., Dittrich, U., Tomsic, M.

Structures of MgB2-based materials manufactured under pressure (up to 2 GPa) by different methods having high superconducting performance and connectivity are multiphase and contain different Mg-B-O compounds. Some oxygen can be incorporated into MgB2 and boron into MgO structures, MgBx (X=4-20) inclusions contain practically no oxygen. Regulating manufacturing temperature, pressure, introducing additions one can influence oxygen and boron distribution in the materials and thus, affect the formation, amount and sizes of Mg-B-O and MgBx inclusions and changing type of pinning, pinning force and so affect critical current density jc. The boron concentration increase in initial Mg and B mixture allows obtaining sample containing 88.5 wt% of MgB12 with Tc of 37.4 K (estimated magnetically).

2016, Prikhna, T., Eisterer, M., Chaud, X., Weber, H.W., Habisreuther, T., Moshchil, V., Kozyrev, A., Shapovalov, A., Gawalek, W., Wu, M., Litzkendorf, D., Goldacker, W., Sokolovsky, V., Shaternik, V., Rabier, J., Joulain, A., Grechnev, G., Boutko, V., Gusev, A., Shaternik, A., Barvitskiy, P.

The relevant pinning centers of Abrikosov vortices in MgB2-based materials are oxygen-enriched Mg-B-O inclusions or nanolayers and inclusions of MgBx (x>4) phases. The high critical current densities, jc, of 106 and 103A/cm2 at 1 and 8.5 T, respectively, at 20 K can be achieved in polycrystalline materials (prepared at 2 GPa) containing a large amount of admixed oxygen. Besides, oxygen can be incorporated into the MgB2 structure in small amounts (MgB1.5O0.5), which is supported by Auger studies and calculations of the DOS and the binding energy. The jc of melt textured YBa2Cu3O7-δ (or Y123)-based superconductors (MT-YBaCuO) depends not only on the perfectness of texture and the amount of oxygen in the Y123 structure, but also on the density of twins and micro-cracks formed during the oxygenation (due to shrinking of the c-lattice parameter). The density of twins and microcracks increases with the reduction of the distance between Y2BaCuO5 (Y211) inclusions in Y123. At 77 K jc=8·104 A/cm2 in self-field and jc=103 A/cm2 at 10 T were found in materials oxygenated at 16 MPa for 3 days with a density of twins of 22–35 per µm (thickness of the lamellae: 45-30 nm) and a density of micro-cracks of 200–280 per mm. Pinning can occur at the points of intersection between the Y123 twin planes and the Y211 inclusions. MTYBaCuO at 77 K can trap 1.4 T (38×38×17 mm, oxygenated at 0.1 MPa for 20 days) and 0.8 T (16 mm in diameter and 10 mm thick with 0.45 mm holes oxygenated at 10 MPa for 53 h). The sensitivity of MgB2 to magnetic field variations (flux jumps) complicates estimates of the trapped field. At 20 K 1.8 T was found for a block of 30 mm in diameter and a thickness of 7.5 mm and 1.5 T (if the magnetic field was increased at a rate of 0.1 T) for a ring with dimensions 24×18 mm and a thickness of 8 mm.

2015, Jochum, Tobias, Michalzik, Beate, Bachmann, Anne, Popp, Jürgen, Frosch, Torsten

Soil and groundwater contamination with benzene can cause serious environmental damage. However, many soil microorganisms are capable to adapt and are known to strongly control the fate of organic contamination. Innovative cavity enhanced Raman multi-gas spectroscopy (CERS) was applied to investigate the short-term response of the soil micro-flora to sudden surface contamination with benzene regarding the temporal variations of gas products and their exchange rates with the adjacent atmosphere. 13C-labeled benzene was spiked on a silty-loamy soil column in order to track and separate the changes in heterotrophic soil respiration – involving 12CO2 and O2 – from the natural attenuation process of benzene degradation to ultimately form 13CO2. The respiratory quotient (RQ) decreased from a value 0.98 to 0.46 directly after the spiking and increased again within 33 hours to a value of 0.72. This coincided with the maximum 13CO2 concentration rate (0.63 μmol m−2 s−1), indicating the highest benzene degradation at 33 hours after the spiking event. The diffusion of benzene in the headspace and the biodegradation into 13CO2 were simultaneously monitored and 12 days after the benzene spiking no measurable degradation was detected anymore. The RQ finally returned to a value of 0.96 demonstrating the reestablished aerobic respiration.