Local Seebeck coefficient near the boundary in touching Cu/Bi-Te/Cu composites

The thermo-emf ΔV and temperature difference ΔT across the boundary were measured as a function of r for the touching p- and n-type Cu/Bi-Te/Cu composites composed of a combination of tBi-Te=2.0 mm and tCu=0.3 mm, where ΔT is produced by imposing a constant voltage of 1.7 V on two Peltier modules connected in series and r is the distance from the boundary that corresponds to the interval s between two thermocouples. The resultant Seebeck coefficient α across the boundary was obtained from the relation α=ΔV/ΔT. As a result, the resultant α of the touching p- and n-type composites have surprisingly great local maximum values of 1330 and -1140 μV/K at r≈0.03 mm, respectively, and decreased rapidly with an increase of r to approach the Seebeck coefficients of the intrinsic Bi-Te compounds. The resultant maximum α of the touching p- and n-type Cu/Bi-Te/Cu composites are approximately 5.4 and 5.5 times higher in absolute value than those of the intrinsic Bi-Te compounds, respectively. It was thus clarified for the first time that the local Seebeck coefficient is enhanced most strongly in the Bi-Te region where there is an approximately 30-μm distance from the boundary, not at the boundary between Bi-Te compounds and copper.