Measurement of Seebeck effect (thermoelectric power) at high pressure up to 40 GPa

Abstract

The paper reports details of a high-pressure thermoelectric power (Seebeck effect) technique up to 40 GPa. Several different types of high-pressure cells with anvil insets are presented. The technique was applied for measurements of pressure dependence of the thermopower of several substances including elemental metals (lead, Pb; indium, In), cerium–nickel alloy, Ce–Ni and sulphur, S. Two peculiarities in the pressure dependences of the thermopower of CeNi were found and attributed to structural transformations, near ∼5 and ∼10 GPa. These transitions were confirmed in direct X-ray diffraction studies. Sulphur compressed to 40 GPa exhibited a hole type conductivity and the thermopower value was about ∼+1 mV/K. Additionally, as an example of pressure calibration, the data on the electrical resistivity of zinc selenide, ZnSe, are given in a range of 0–23 GPa. These data suggest three possible scenarios of phase transitions from a rock salt (RS) high-pressure phase of ZnSe under decompression: RS→zinc blende (ZB), RS→cinnabar→ZB, and RS→wurtzite.