Chemical principles of preparation of metal-oxide superconductors

The review deals with chemical aspects of the problem of preparation of a novel class of advanced materials, viz., high-temperature superconducting cuprates of complex chemical composition and structure. Investigations into these types of superconductors not only made it possible to reveal the 'composition–treatment–structure–property' correlations, but also contributed significantly to the development of concepts of chemical interactions in complex oxide systems, high-temperature phase transformations, the nature of peritectic reactions, properties of cuprate melts and structural phase transitions. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of different experimental results obtained in the studies of features of physicochemical processes occurring in complex metal–oxide systems. The bibliography includes 292 references.