ABSTRACT
Single crystals of the filled skutterudite compound ThOsAs
were grown by a Cd:As flux method. Low-temperature specific-heat measurement reveals a very small Sommerfeld coefficient of the electronic term
mJ/molK
, indicative of a semiconducting or semimetallic character of ThOs
As
. A low electronic density of states at the Fermi level is consistent with anticipations based on the Zintl concept for the filled skutterudites as well as with our results of band structure calculations. Investigations of a nonmagnetic material ThOs
As
can be relevant to unmask puzzling strong electron correlations in the putative topological Kondo insulator CeOs
As
.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
ORCID
J. Juraszek http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9167-5622
K. Rola http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8404-4806
M. Daszkiewicz http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1619-6146
M. Samsel-Czekała http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5854-767X
T. Cichorek http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1995-7086
Z. Henkie http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3279-272X