The thermoelectric power of palladium and platinum alloys

Abstract

Abstract The temperature dependence of the absolute thermopower, S, of a number of dilute Pd-Ru, Pd-Ir, and Pt-Os alloys has been obtained between 4 K and 300 K. Both concentration and temperature dependences of S in each of the three series are very much alike, with the characteristic thermopowers, S 0, fairly large and positive. Although this cannot be explained by the same rigid band model as we used earlier in discussing alloys formed between Pd and Pt and their nearest neighbouring elements, there is still a correlation between the sign and magnitude of S 0 and the electron concentration dependence of the electronic specific heat. A possible explanation of this correlation is given by Brereton in the following paper. The positive phonon drag peaks at ∼ 60 K are quenched at about the same rate in both sets of palladium alloys, showing that the difference in atomic mass between solvent and solute atoms is not an important parameter in determining the phonon drag in these materials.