Magnetic properties and superconductivity of nano-width crystallite interfaces of bicrystals and tricrystals of Bi1−x–Sbx (x ≤ 0.2) alloys

Abstract

The magnetic properties of bicrystals and tricrystals of Bi1−x–Sbx (x ≤ 0.2) alloys were studied in a temperature range of 1.8–100 K. The ferromagnetic-like hysteresis loops are found in tricrystals and some bicrystals. We revealed that nano-width crystallite interfaces ( 100 nm) exhibit superconducting behavior, whereas the single crystalline samples are not superconducting. The onset of superconducting transition ( 36 K) in some of these interfaces considerably exceeds the values of other semimetal nanoobjects.