Small Seebeck in A15-type Cr₃Ge single crystals

Abstract We first synthesized single crystals of Cr 3 Ge grown with Sn flux technique. The compound has the A15 cubic structure with the space group . The crystal quality is confirmed by X-ray analysis. Electrical transport, magnetzation and thermal measurements on single crastals are carried out. While in reported study based on polycrystalline Cr 3 Ge samples, the ground state is paramagnetic metal with electron type charge carriers, which are different from single crystals. It is worth noting that in our works the Seebeck coefficient from 300 K to 2 K is below 1.6 μ V/K, indicating a slight change for the corresponding electronic density of states (DOS) at the Femi level. We suggest that Cr 3 Ge is a promising candidate for a Cr-based superconductor via doping.