The influence of B variation on the electronic properties of Al3Ni20Bx (6≤x≤12)

We investigated the influence of B variation on the structural, thermal, and electronic properties of the ternary intermetallics Al3Ni20Bx (x=6,7,…,12). On increasing the metalloid content, the cubic unit-cell parameter (space group Fm3¯m) is observed to increase linearly. Down to 2 K (for selected cases down to 120 mK), no evidence of superconductivity or (de)localized magnetism is observed in any of the studied samples; rather, all exhibit a nonmagnetic and metallic character. Furthermore, the Pauli susceptibilities, the coefficients of the specific heats, and the coefficients of the resistivities are found to correlate strongly (but non-montonically) with the percentage of the Ni content per unit formula (the Ni 3d band is the dominant contributor to the density of states N(EF)). Such a non-monotonic evolution of the electronic properties is attributed to a corresponding non-monotonic character of the N(E) curve within the neighborhood of EF.