Porous high-Tc superconductors and their applications

Porous high-Tc superconducting materials offer several important benefits as compared to standard-type samples including an easy scalability towards large sample sizes, an easier oxygenation process and reduced weight. Due to these advantages, several different approaches to develop such samples were carried out in the literature. In this contribution, we present the microstructures and the physical properties of superconducting foams of YBa2Cu3O7 and fabric-like, nanowire networks of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8. Further, we discuss the properties of such samples concerning both the physical parameters and the respective microstructures and give an overview about possible applications.