Transition to Semiconducting Characteristics in Liquid Alkali Metal--Antimony Alloys

Measurements were made of the electrical conductivity, thermoelectric power, magnetic susceptibility, and molar volume of liquid Cs--Sb, Na--Sb, and K--Sb alloys. The measurements show that typical semiconducting behaviour similar to liquid chaleogen-based alloy semiconductors exists over a wide composition range, the alkali metal--antimony alloys behaving in a non-metallic manner over the approximate composition range 0.15 < = X sub Sb < = 0.85. The change in bonding over the range 0.25 < = X sub Sb < = 0.5 is discussed and it is concluded that the liquid alloys are not essentially ionic in nature. 37 ref.--R.E.