Study of the effect of Ni substitution and external pressure in Li2Pd3B superconductor

Samples belonging to the series Li2(Pd1−xNix)3B for x = 0-0.2 have been synthesized. Phase purity of the samples is established using X-ray diffraction. The lattice parameter decreases with increasing Ni substitution. The superconducting transition temperature, Tc, exhibits a decrease with increasing Ni concentration. On the application of external pressure up to 3 GPa, the onset Tc decreases monotonically at a rate d ln Tc/dP of ∼0.064 GPa−1. The results are seen to be consistent with the behaviour expected of conventional superconductors.