Flux growth of Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O whiskers

Fibrous single crystals of Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O have been grown from the melt of the corresponding oxides and carbonates. The crystals are mostly flat ribbon-like whiskers with the long edge in the a direction and the c axis perpendicular to the face. There exists a superstructure in the b direction. Dislocations observed are mainly parallel in the a axis. The whiskers are elastic and they can be bent with a radius of curvature of down to 0.02 mm. The whiskers show a single-phase behaviour in the temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity with a critical temperature T_cm=81.5 K.