ELECTRICAL-PROPERTIES OF AN UNUSUAL LIQUID SEMICONDUCTOR - K-TE

Thermopower and electrical conductivity measurements are reported for liquid KxTe1-x alloys. The results confirm a semiconducting behaviour of the liquid over a large range of compositions and temperatures, whi ch is due to the presence of low-coordination structural units as conf irmed by recent diffraction studies. Further insights into the controv ersial issue of Te bonding in the liquid state are inferred. The Kubo- Greenwood formalism is discussed to explain the observed electrical co nductivity and thermopower. The temperature dependence of the conducti vity is shown to obey the Meyer-Neldel (MN) rule. The data are not con sistent with an explanation of the MN rule based on a statistical shif t of the Fermi energy with temperature.