On the thermopower of ionic conductor and ionic capacitors

Abstract

We theoretically study the thermoelectric response of ionic conductors to an applied temperaturegradient. As a main result we find that open and closed systems with respect to charge exchange,result in different expressions for the thermopower which may even take opposite signs. For theexperimentally most relevant zero-current steady state, we show that the thermopower of ionic conductorsdoes not depend on the mobilities, contrary to what is known for metals and semiconductors.The different behavior of ionic and electronic conductors is traced back to the unlike conservationlaws for ionic carriers and electron-hole pairs.