Abstract
Measurements of physical properties were performed on the PrBa 2 Cu 4 O 8-δ sample prepared by the sol-gel method and sintered in I atm oxygen pressure. Instead of exhibiting superconductivity as for R - Y or Gd in the RBa 2 Cu 4 O 8-δ compound, This compound is unstable, insulating but metallic-like at low temperatures. No superconductivity was observed down to 2 K. Since PrBa 2 Cu 4 O 8-δ can be re-written as Cu 2 Ba 2 PrCu 2 O 8-δ which is a compound of two CuO 2 -layers and two CuO-chains, the possibility of anomalous Pr antiferromagnetic ordering around 18 K observed from preliminary magnetic data and the effect of oxygen stoichiometry parameter δ on the metal-insulator transition are explored. © 1996 Plenum Publishing Corporation.