Thermopower of several ternary compounds of cerium and uranium: CeTX and UTX(T identical to Ni, Pd or Pt; X identical to In or Sn)

Abstract

The authors have measured the thermopower S, from 2 to 300 K, of several ternary compounds of cerium and uranium: CeTX and UTX with T identical to transition metals Ni, Pd or Pt and with X identical to In or Sn. The behaviour of S for these cerium compounds seems to be capable of interpretation as due to the strength of the hybridisation of the Ce-4f electron with conduction electrons. On the other hand, the behaviour of S for the uranium compounds changes enormously for each compound. Prominently sharp peaks of S as a function of temperature were observed both for UNiSn near its semiconductor-to-metal transition temperature and for CeNiSn near its metal-to-semiconductor transition temperature.