Patent 8216977 was granted and assigned to Cambridge Enterprise on July, 2012 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Compositions are disclosed of a matrix of a high temperature superconductive oxide such as YBCO, with non-superconductive particles distributed in the matrix. The non-superconductive particles comprise at least one rare earth element (RE) and at least one of tantalum (Ta) and niobium (Nb). Of particular interest are non-superconductive particles of composition RE-Ta3O7 (RTO), where RE is Yb, Er, Gd or Sm, disposed in a YBCO superconductive matrix.