Metal-Insulator Transition in LiTi2-xVxO4

Resistivity, Seebeck coefficient, and the magnetic susceptibility were measured for the sintered pellets to see if a random distribution of Ti and V makes the oxide insulating. The oxide seems to be an insulator in the composition range 0.8 1. It was a sum of the Pauli paramagnetic one of Ti 3+ electrons and the Curie-Weiss one of V 3+ electrons for x <1. A mechanism of the metal-insulator transition was discussed.