On the edge of tetravalent Ce in CePd7

Abstract

Data on the magnetic susceptibility, low-temperature specific heat and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (Ce LIII and MIV.V edges) for CePd7 and its reference compound YPd7 are presented. The respective Pauli susceptibilities chi 0 of 0.11*10-3 emu mol-1 and 0.50*10-3 emu mol-1 and the respective Sommerfeld coefficients gamma of 9.8 mJ K-2 mol-1 and 35.8 mJ K-2 mol-1 are much smaller (per atom) than those of the corresponding components (Ce, Y and Pd). The valence extracted from the Ce LIII edge is 3.5. The chi 0/ gamma -ratios are found to be 0.012 emu K-2 J-1 and 0.014 emu K2 J-1 for CePd7 and YPd7, respectively. Such a value for CePd7 corresponds to that of a free-electron system instead of an intermediate-valence system (0.035 emu K2 J-1).