Calculation of the residual resistivity and the thermoelectric power of sp impurities in silver.

Abstract

We present ab initio calculations for the residual resistivity and the thermopower of sp impurities in silver. The calculations are based on density-functional theory and the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker Green's-function method. The linearized Boltzmann equation is solved by means of a Fermi-surface harmonic expansion to calculate the residual resistivity, taking into account the anisotropic electronic properties of the dilute alloy. The thermoelectric power was obtained from the energy dependence of the residual resistivity by means of Mott's formula. The results are in satisfying agreement with highly precise experimental results and confirm experimentally obtained deviations from a quadratic dependence on the valence difference \ensuremath{\Delta}Z for the thermopower of sp impurities in silver.