Electrical resistivity and 7Li Knight shift of liquid Li-Si alloys

The electrical resistivity rho and the 7Li Knight shift K of liquid Li-Si alloys have been measured for Li concentrations between 0 and 50 at.% Si. From 0 to 20 at.% Si both the electrical conductivity and the Knight shift decrease strongly. Above 20 at.% Si, rho levels off at approximately 650 mu Omega cm and also K remains nearly constant at approximately 25% of the pure-Li Knight shift. When the results are combined with available T1 data, the Korringa enhancement eta is calculated. The approximate relation between rho and eta proposed by Warren (1971) for the diffusive motion regime holds very well. An interpretation on the atomic level is proposed by assuming that in the alloys with more than 20 at.% Si the Si atoms form just the number of covalent bonds necessary to keep EF at a minimum in the density of state