Transport properties of metallic LiV2O4 single crystals—heavy mass Fermi liquid behavior

Single crystals of the spinel oxide, LiV2O4, were grown hydrothermally and the transport, magnetic and thermal properties of these crystals were studied extensively. We observed an electronic specific heat coefficient γ as large as 0.35 J/mol K2, which confirms the previous work on polycrystalline samples, and a T2 behavior of the resistivity below 2 K. The coefficient of the T2 term, A, and γ were found to satisfy the Kadowaki–Woods relation for strongly correlated Fermi liquids. These results are consistent with the formation of a Fermi liquid with extraordinarily heavy quasiparticles. We speculate that electron correlation’s, which place the system close to a Mott transition, and the strong magnetic frustration inherent to the cubic spinel structure play a substantial role in realizing the extremely heavy-mass Fermi liquid in LiV2O4.