Thermopower and Resistivity Studies of the AuV and AuCuV Systems

The low-temperature transport properties of dilute AuV and AuCuV alloys have been investigated by measuring their thermoelectric powers from 10 to 300 K and their electrical resistivities from 1.5 to 300 K. The alloys consisted of 0.4, 0.7, and 1.0 at.% vanadium dissolved in a Au_1-xCu_x host where x=0, 10, and 20 at.%. It is shown that at low temperatures (< 20 K) the resistivity of the AuV system can be described by a T² law. The implied Kondo temperature (280 K), however, is higher than that obtained by other means. In particular, the thermopower data suggest a Kondo temperature of 160 K for the AuV system. For temperatures exceeding 25 K the impurity resistivity decreases linearly with increasing temperature. Reduced Nordheim-Görter plots, prepared for estimating the characteristic thermopower of vanadium in Au and AuCu hosts, produce higher values than the experimental ones. Possible reasons are put forward.