The effect of transition metal doping on thermal conductivity of YB66

Abstract

Abstract The effect of transition metal doping in YB66 has been studied with respect to increase its thermal conductivity. Single crystals of YB66 doped with 4th, 5th and 6th group transition metals were grown by floating zone method. A detailed structure analysis suggested that an existing special B—B pair at the (1/4, 1/4, 1/4) site of YB66 could be attributed to a phonon scattering center that causes the amorphous-like low thermal conductivity. It was found that 5th and 6th group transition metals of V, Cr, Nb and Mo substitute the B—B pair. By contrast 4th group transition metals such as Ti and Zr were found to enter another (x, x, x) site with x ∼ 0.135. Thermal conductivity of both Nb-doped and undoped YB66 was measured in the range 4 K ≤ T ≤ 150 K. Nb doping increased thermal conductivity of YB66 with a factor of about 2.