We report the synthesis of LaOFeAs based oxypnictide superconductors (La1-xNaxO1-xFxFeAs) using sodium fluoride as a fluorinating agent. NaF doping leads to a systematic decrease in both the a and c lattice parameters. Resistivity measurements show the onset resistivity transition temperature at 30.9 (±0.05) K and corresponding Meissner transition at 28 (±0.05) K in La0.85Na0.15O0.85F0.15FeAs which is highest in LaOFeAs type superconductors synthesized at ambient pressure. Further increase of NaF content in LaOFeAs leads to suppression of Tc. The above superconductors show a negative value of the Seebeck coefficient which indicates that electrons are the dominant charge carriers. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Jai Prakash

Department of Chemistry

S.J. Singh

J. Ahmed

S. Patnaik

A.K. Ganguli

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Journal	Physica C: Superconductivity and its Applications
ISSN	09214534