Measurement 68 (2015) 295–301

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Measurement
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/measurement

Simple apparatus to measure Seebeck coefficient up to 900 K

Avinna Mishra, Sarama Bhattacharjee, Shahid Anwar ⇑
Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research, New Delhi 110001, India
Colloids & Materials Chemistry Department, CSIR – Institute of Minerals & Materials Technology, Bhubaneswar 751013, Odisha, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: An apparatus for measuring Seebeck coefficient (S) has been designed that allows
Received 3 December 2014 measurement of S from room temperature to 900 K. It is constructed from readily available
Received in revised form 28 February 2015 equipment and instrumentation with parts that can be easily fabricated. The details of
Accepted 5 March 2015
instrument fabrication, sources of errors, method of calibration, typical measurement in
Available online 14 March 2015
test sample are described. We report the Seebeck coefficient measurement of Ca-cobaltite
(Ca3Co4O9) a p-type thermoelectric material. The obtained results from the fabricated
Keywords:
setup are well matched with the reported and standard instrument data with standard
Thermoelectric
Seebeck
deviation of ±3%.
Calcium cobaltite Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Setup

1. Introduction directly the waste heat to electrical energy without any

The current technologies for energy production that
rely on fossil fuels have a negative impact on the environ-
ment and on our living conditions. On the other hand, the
global energy demand is increasing day by day. Alternative
and environmentally benign sources of primary energy do
exist. However, existing technologies for converting these
alternative energy sources into desired energy forms are
far from adequately competitive with conventional tech-
nologies. In addition to alternative sources, improvement
in the efficiency of energy-conversion of conventional
technologies is considered to be a viable alternative for
reducing negative impact on our society. For example,
during conversion of heat to electricity by conventional
technologies, a major part of the primary energy is lost to
the environment as waste heat. Therefore, technologies
for harnessing the dissipating heat component as useful
energy are highly desired to improve overall efficiency of
the process. Thermoelectric generator (TEG), that converts
⇑ Corresponding author at: Colloids & Materials Chemistry Department,
CSIR – Institute of Minerals & Materials Technology, Bhubaneswar
751013, Odisha, India.
E-mail address: shahidanwr@gmail.com (S. Anwar).
intermediate step is seen as one of the more promising
strategies.
Thermoelectric (TE) materials are known to human kind
from early 19th century with discovery of Seebeck, Peltier
and Thomson effects, however not much development
was reported due to low thermoelectric efficiency.
Renewed interest, however, resurfaced in mid 1990s when
theoretical predictions [1] suggested that thermoelectric
efficiency could be greatly enhanced through nanostruc-
ture engineering. Vigorous research efforts led to the devel-
opment of different complex materials [2,3] with high
efficiency. The efficiency of TE materials is measured in
terms of a dimensionless quantity, ZT, the figure of merit
and which is defined by the following relation: ZT = S2rT/
j, where S is the Seebeck co-efficient, r is the electrical
conductivity, T is the absolute temperature and j is the
thermal conductivity. Recently theoretical calculations
[4–7] predicted high thermoelectric efficiency materials
such as Nowotny–Juza NaZnX (X = P, As and Sb) com-
pounds, Srn+1TinO3n+1 homologues series, carbon nitride,
H2S absorbed graphene compounds.
High temperature Seebeck coefficient measurement
is often critical due to lack of standardized guidelines
and hence often is resulted in irreproducibility and

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.measurement.2015.03.005
0263-2241/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
296 A. Mishra et al. / Measurement 68 (2015) 295–301
inconsistency in experimental data. In practical cases, the
measurement geometry deviates from ideal measurement
geometry that introduces errors in the experimental data.
There are many earlier reports [8–17] on fabrication of
instrument setup for measuring the TE properties of bulk
material. Martin et al. [18] has reviewed different tech-
niques and apparatus designs to address the uncertainty in
Seebeck co-efficient measurement.
Several recent reports [19–22] on the fabrication of
setup to measure the S for both bulk and thin film samples
relies on complex sample holder design to reduce the
uncertainties in the data. Iwanaga et al. [19] reported a
setup which can measure the Seebeck coefficient up to
1000 K but the main complexity lies in the designing of
the sample holder and placing the probes in it through dril-
ling. Paul [20] reported a setup for both Seebeck coefficient
and electrical resistivity measurement but both the setup
are applicable till 600 K. Budngam et al. [21] reported a
setup for measuring very low Seebeck co-efficient for met-
als for a wide range of temperature (85–1200 K). Gunes
et al. [22] reported a setup that also features complicated
sample probe design with custom made temperature and
voltage probes.
In this paper we report a simple setup developed from
available instrumentation with sample holder part that
can be easily fabricated. We employ steady state dif-
ferential method and measurements are carried out in air
from room temperature to 900 K. We keep the design sim-
ple and try to probe the extent of errors introduced due to
deviation from ideal geometry. We describe in detail the
instrument fabrication, sources of errors, method of cali-
bration, and typical measurement in test sample.
1.1. Principle for determining Seebeck coefficient by
differential method
Seebeck coefficient is the e.m.f, DV, measured between
two points of a sample having temperature T1 and T2 at the
respective points, under the condition that no current
flows through the sample during measurement. Then S is
given by
DV
Sffi ; where DT ¼ ðT 2  T 1 Þ ! 0 ð1Þ
DT
Though the concept of measuring S is simple, in reality
it is complicated due to spurious emf generated in the
measuring circuit and also the practical difficulty in mea-
suring voltage and temperature at the same point of the
sample.
Two distinct approaches namely, the integral and the
differential method are utilized for measuring S. Two
methods differ in the magnitude of the temperature gradi-
ent that has to be maintained across the sample. In the
integral method, one end of the sample is kept at a fixed
temperature while the other end is heated slowly. Using
the gradient of voltage versus temperature, the S can be
found for any given temperature. In the differential
method, the entire sample is heated in steps to succes-
sively higher temperatures and for each step small tem-
perature differentials are created between the ends. The
linear slope of voltage drop DV versus the temperature
difference DT then gives the S for the specific temperature
step. This linearity is dependent upon the value of S and oS/
oT. These values also determine DT that should be chosen
for the measurement to give the most accurate results.
Usually for a small DT (5 K), the relation remains linear.
One drawback of the integral method is the difficulty of
maintaining a large temperature gradient in small samples,
or in samples with high thermal conductivity. Also large
temperature difference may introduce thermal stresses in
the sample that can cause the sample to break. Further,
there is no clear-cut way to mathematically evaluate the
slope of a noisy signal and the associated error. These
drawbacks are not present in the differential method, and
also good for thin samples and is used in preference nowa-
days. We employ here differential method.
2. Experimental
2.1. Apparatus description
The complete schematic block diagram for the setup is
shown in Fig. 1 which consists of mainly four major com-
ponents: sample holder, primary heater (heater 1), sec-
ondary heater (heater 2) and its measuring components
like multimeter and temperature controller.
The primary heater basically consists of a alumina tube
with one end closed having inner diameter 7 cm and
length 32 cm and is vertically placed in a cubical box made
of mild steel of dimension 45  45  35 cm3 with suitable
insulation. High resistive wire is wounded on the alumina
tube to have a hot zone of length 10 cm and can operate
from room temperature to 900 K in a control mode.
The longitudinal 3D view of the sample holder is shown
in Fig. 1b with an enlarged view of the sample holding sec-
tion. The holder is made up of inconel with overall height
of 30 cm and consists of two electrodes (1,2 of Fig. 1b) with
a spring loading arrangement, secondary heater and all
other supporting components. The electrodes are basically
two stainless steel (SS) cylindrical blocks of dimension of
2 cm in length and 1.5 cm in diameter. The sample is sand-
wiched between these two electrodes. The lower electrode
block is fixed with the base (10) while the upper electrode
block is movable through a distance of 1.5 cm in vertical
direction. To generate a temperature difference (2–10 K)
between two surfaces of the sample, a secondary heater
(6) is directly attached to the top electrode. All sides except
the bottom of the secondary heater are coated with cera-
mic cement to reduce the heat loss. The top electrode
assembly (along with the secondary heater) is attached
to a solid screw (8) of 15 cm length and 1 cm diameter.
To establish good thermal contact between the sample
and the electrodes, pressure is applied through the screw
on the sample surface which is spring loaded. The spring
is fixed outside the primary heater in order to avoid the
loss of the spring elasticity on heating. Whole top electrode
assembly is supported by a circular steel disc with 4.5 cm
diameter and 0.4 cm thick (11) and steel frame (9). The cir-
cular disc additionally helps in shielding the radiation heat
loss from the secondary heater. The complete sample
holder is kept firm in place with the help of a steel frame
 A. Mishra et al. / Measurement 68 (2015) 295–301 297

Fig. 1. (a) Schematic block diagram of seebeck setup. (b) 3D view of the sample holder.

consists of three solid stainless rods of length 20 cm and
having 0.8 cm diameter (7). The rods are screwed to the
base (10) and fixed to the upper circular disc.
To measure the sample surface temperatures two K-type
thermocouples (3,4) are silver brazed to the respective
electrodes close to the sample surfaces. Thin metal wires,
0.05 cm thick (5) are silver brazed to each electrodes close
to thermocouples junctions and used as voltage leads. The
voltage leads also contribute to the Seebeck voltage,
since their one ends are at room temperature. However
their contribution is insignificant since the wire used has
small S (1–2 lV/K) value, while the setup is designed for
thermoelectric materials of having S > 100 lV/K. The
thermocouples and all the wires for electrical measurement
are electrically insulated by alumina beads.
Temperatures of both the heaters are controlled by a
Eurotherm 2416 temperature controller with resolution
of 0.1 K. The temperature difference (DT) between the
sample ends is maintained at 5–10 K over the complete
temperature range up to 900 K. Temperature stability is
298 A. Mishra et al. / Measurement 68 (2015) 295–301

maintained in the tubular chamber at every operational

temperature and found to be not exceeding more than
ten degrees even at high temperature. Keithley 2010 mul-
timeter with resolution 0.01 lV is connected to the voltage
jacks of the sample holder in order to measure the voltage
difference (DV).

2.2. Measurement of the test sample

To measure S, a bar shaped pellet of diameter of

1.25 cm and thickness of 0.2 cm is mounted between
the two SS block electrodes. Heater 1 is programmed at a
rate of 2.5–3 K/min to desired temperature. Once the tem-
perature is reached, heater 2 is started in order to develop
the temperature difference of 5–10 K between the two
surfaces of the samples. Once stabilized, the voltage differ-
ence DV is noted down. At each temperature, the measure-
ment is repeated five times within short interval. Also the
measurement is made during heating and cooling also.

3. Result and discussion

3.1. Test sample measurement

Sintered pellet of calcium cobaltite (Ca3Co4O9) is used

as test sample. The sample is prepared by following solid
state synthesis route staring from corresponding oxides
and by established Pechini method [23]. To check the dura-
bility and repeatability of the system the measurement are
performed several times on the test samples. Fig. 2a shows
plot of S versus temperature for Ca3Co4O9 test sample for
three runs and the standard deviation. The obtained S val-
ues of Ca3Co4O9 in all three trials are found to increase Fig. 2. (a) Variation of Seebeck coefficient of Ca3Co4O9 with temperature
monotonically with the temperature. At 878 K, S is found for three different trials and (b) Standard deviation of the data from three
trials.
to vary within the range of 185–190 lV/K. The standard
deviation of S is within DS ± 5 lV/K (Fig. 2b) in the total
temperature range studied. The obtained data are well Table 1
compared with the published result for Ca3Co4O9 from List of offset voltage generated with increasing temperature.
different literatures [24–26].
Temperature (K) 373 473 573 673 773 873
Voltage (lV) 0.015 0.017 0.007 0.011 0.009 0.013
3.2. Estimation of errors

To determine the offset voltage arising due to spurious
emf in the measuring circuit, an experiment is designed
where an insulating block is placed between the two elec-
trodes and voltage between the electrodes is measured in
the complete temperature range. The variation of voltage
is listed in Table 1. The variation of voltage recorded is var-
ied within nanovolt and hence its effect may be neglected.
In the fabricated setup since temperature and voltages
measurement locations are not exactly in touch with the
sample surfaces, the major errors in voltage and tempera-
ture values arise due to thermal and electrical contact
resistance.
3.3. Electrical contact resistance measurement
Electrical contact resistance refers to the contribution to
the total resistance of a material/setup which comes from
all electrical and mechanical connections come in the path
of current flow. It is setup specific and different in different
conditions. Contact resistance is independent of the mea-
surement method.
The contact resistance of the fabricated setup is
measured using four probe arrangement that consists of
a current injecting channels (+I, I) through Keithley
2400 source meter and a voltage sensing channel (+V,
V) (measured with Keithley 2010 multimeter).
Fig. 3a shows the measurement arrangement for eval-
uation of contact electrical resistance. The two external
points (Fig. 3a) where generated thermoelectric voltage is
measured is taken as two end of the system, since between
these two points it includes various electrical and
mechanical contacts that can contribute to contact resis-
tance. The two Keithley meter then accurately measures
the current injection while simultaneously senses the volt-
age drop across the setup, the resistance is then calculated.
The four probe arrangement eliminates the error induced
 A. Mishra et al. / Measurement 68 (2015) 295–301 299

Fig. 3. (a) Experimental arrangement to measure electrical contact

resistance. (b) Variation of resistance with temperature.

by test lead resistances. Measurement is carried out by

sweeping the total temperature range.
Fig. 3b shows the variation of resistance measured from
room temperature to 900 K. Measured average resistance
(5.01 X) with a standard deviation of ±0.1 X in the total
temperature region is nominal and within error limit.

3.4. Thermal contact resistance measurement
To determine the thermal contact resistance, an experi-
ment is designed where two extra thermocouples are
placed by digging a shallow channel on both the surfaces
of the sample pellet (Fig. 4). Both the heaters (primary
and secondary) are swept through the total temperature
range. The temperatures measured with the four
thermocouples (Fig. 4a) are noted down, Fig. 4b shows
the top view of the sample during measurement. The
experiment is repeated three times. It is observed that
there is not much temperature lag between the lower
thermocouple and the thermocouple in touch with lower
surface. It is understandable since the primary heater is
programmed to run sufficiently slower rate to reach ther-
mal equilibrium, however, the upper surface exhibits tem-
perature lag between the upper thermocouple and the
thermocouple in touch with the sample upper surface. It
is found that there is an error of 2–5 K up to 600 K which
Fig. 4. (a) Experimental arrangement to measure thermal contact resis-
tance. (b) Top view of the sample with channel to place thermocouple
TCs1.
increases up to 10–15 K at 900 K in measuring temperature
gradient. Hence in fabricated setup the major error in the S
value is coming from the error introduced in measuring the
temperature of (hot side) of the sample.
3.5. Comparison of data collected in the setup with calibrated
equipment
To determine experimentally the deviation of S values
measured in the fabricated setup, the S values of the same
sample is measured in a commercially available (Linseis,
LSR-3) instrument which is calibrated against standard
compound by the manufacturer. In the commercial setup,
the readings are taken in the temperature range from
340 to 1000 K with temperature interval of 50 K. The
300 A. Mishra et al. / Measurement 68 (2015) 295–301
Fig. 5. (a) Comparison of Seebeck coefficient (S) values with temperature
(T) from the commercial instrument and the fabricated setup. (b)
Variation in percentage error in Seebeck coefficient values with tempera-
ture between the data measured in commercial instrument and the
fabricated setup.
generated potential difference (DV) is measured in every
10 K rise of temperature gradient (DT) of 10 K. The com-
parative results of commercial system along with data
obtained from developed system are shown in Fig. 5a. A
standard deviation plot of obtained data has been plotted
(Fig. 5b) with respect to data obtained from commercial
equipment of same sample. At low temperature (up to
600 K) the deviation is nominal (2–3%). Deviation seems
to be higher at higher temperature (5–7%). This is
because the error introduced in measuring hot side tem-
perature increases with temperature as discussed above.
It is important to note here that we compare our raw data
without any temperature or lead corrections.
4. Conclusions
A simple apparatus is fabricated for measurement of
Seebeck co-efficient up to temperature of 900 K using dif-
ferential concept. The instrument works in air and good
for measuring S for small samples. Accuracy in measuring
temperature gradient is most crucial in determining the
Seebeck coefficient and we observe that in our fabricated
setup there is an error in determining DT  2–5 K up to
600 K which increases up to 10–15 K at 900 K. It introduces
an error in S value of 2–3% at lower temperature and
increases to 5–7% at higher temperature. The data
obtained in a commercial setup and the fabricated setup,
when compared also shows similar deviation in S values.
Measurement of S of calcium cobaltite test sample shows
fair reproducibility with standard deviation of DS ± 5 lV/K.
Finally, we report here a simple apparatus for measuring
S without any tailor-made sample probe, current and volt-
age probes design.
Acknowledgement
The authors gratefully acknowledge Director, CSIR-
IMMT, Bhubaneswar for his encouragement. The authors
also record their sincere thanks to Dr. Shovit
Bhattacharya in carrying out Seebeck coefficient measure-
ment at Bhaba Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, India.
This research is partially supported by Board of Research
in Nuclear Sciences, Department of Atomic Energy,
Mumbai, India.
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