YBCO superconductor YBa₂Cu₃O₇

Unit cell

Lattice constants

a = 3.813 Å, b = 3.881 Å, c = 11.630 Å; α = 90°, β = 90°, γ = 90°

Cell volume

172.1 ų

Atoms in the cell

13 (Ba 2, Y 1, Cu 3, O 7)

Formula units Z

1

Calculated density

6.43 g cm⁻³

Shortest contact

1.855 Å

Coordination

Ba

CN 10 at 2.73 Å (10 O)

Y

CN 8 at 2.38 Å (8 O)

Cu

CN 4 at 1.86 Å (4 O)

O

CN 2 at 1.86 Å (1.71 Cu)

About the structure

• Three perovskite cells stacked along c with Y, Ba, Ba on the A sites and some oxygen removed: CuO₂ planes (square-pyramidal Cu) and CuO chains (square-planar Cu).
• The first material superconducting above liquid-nitrogen temperature (T꜀ ≈ 93 K, 1987); the oxygen content x in YBa₂Cu₃O₇₋ₓ controls T꜀.
• Coordinates from the Crystallography Open Database, entry 1001452 (open data); hydrogen and water sites with partial occupancy below 0.5 are left out.

Atom positions (fractional, one cell)

Z, coordination numbers, distances, density and packing on this page are computed from these coordinates.