Superconductivity in the ternary borides CeOs3B2 and CeRu3B2: Magnetic susceptibility and specific heat measurements

The compounds CeOs₃B₂ and CeRu₃B₂ show superconductivity with T_c's of 3.5 and 1.1 K respectively. The magnetic susceptibility of both these compounds may be described as the sum of a Curie-Weiss term dominating at low temperature and a large temperature independent term. The heat capacity measurements yield the value of electronic specific heat coefficient γ of 40.1 and 15.6 mJ/mol K² for Os and Ru compounds, respectively. These compounds appear to be conventional bulk superconductors in which Ce is in a strongly mixed valent state.