High-pressure synthesis of the filled skutterudite PrFe4Sb12

We have succeeded in synthesizing the filled skutterudite PrFe4Sb12 crystals at high pressures and temperatures. To investigate bulk properties, we measured the magnetic susceptibility down to 2K and electrical resistivity down to 0.7K. The magnetic susceptibility exhibits a broad maximum around 10K and follows the Curie Weiss law above ∼150K with the effective magnetic moment of 4.5μB/f.u. The electrical resistivity increases with increasing temperature up to room temperature exhibiting tendencies to saturation at around 10 and 100K. The relatively large residual resistivity ratio of ∼24 suggests high quality of the grown sample