Low-temperature physical properties and electronic structures of Ni3Sb, Ni5Sb2, NiSb2, and NiSb **Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21271183) and the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant Nos. 2011CBA00112 and 2011CB808202).

Abstract

We report the results of low temperature resistivity and magnetization measurements on polycrystalline samples of four Ni–Sb compounds, Ni3Sb, Ni5Sb2, NiSb, and NiSb2. Resistivity measurements revealed that these compounds exhibit a metallic type of electrical conductivity. Temperature dependences of the resistivities were well fitted by the generalized Bloch–Grüneisen formula with an exponent of n = 3, indicating that the s–d interband scattering is the dominant scattering mechanism. The magnetic susceptibilities of Ni5Sb2, NiSb, and NiSb2 are almost independent of temperature (above 150 K), exhibiting Pauli paramagnetic behavior. The temperature dependences of the susceptibilities were fitted using the Curie–Weiss law. Ni3Sb was found to have a paramagnetic–ferromagnetic phase transition at 229 K.First-principles calculations have been performed to investigate the electronic structures and physical properties of these Ni–Sb alloys. The calculation of the band structure predicted that Ni3Sb, Ni5Sb2, NiSb, and NiSb2 have characteristics of metal, and the ground state of Ni3Sb is ferromagnetic. The electrical and magnetic properties observed experimentally are consistent with that predicted by the first-principle electronic structure calculations.