Magnetic and transport properties of PrBa₂Cu₄O_8-δ prepared at 1 atm oxygen pressure

Measurements of physical properties were performed on the PrBa₂Cu₄O_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 RBa₂Cu₄O_8-δ compound, This compound is unstable, insulating but metallic-like at low temperatures. No superconductivity was observed down to 2 K. Since PrBa₂Cu₄O_8-δ can be re-written as Cu₂Ba₂PrCu₂O_8-δ which is a compound of two CuO₂-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.