Strong thermoelectric response of nanoconfined weak electrolytes

Rajkumar Sarma; Steffen Hardt

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arXiv · 2506.20149

Strong thermoelectric response of nanoconfined weak electrolytes

Rajkumar Sarma·Steffen Hardt

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Abstract

When dissolved, weak electrolytes only partially dissociate into ions in a temperature-dependent process. We show herein that such incomplete dissociation yields an enormous thermoelectric response in an electrolyte-filled nanochannel along which a temperature gradient is applied. For this purpose, an extended version of the Nernst-Planck equations is developed that takes into account the temperature-dependent dissociation-association equilibrium. The results indicate that in this way, Seebeck coefficients can be achieved that outperform all previously reported values.

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BibTeX RIS

Rajkumar Sarma, Steffen Hardt. 2025-09-19. Strong thermoelectric response of nanoconfined weak electrolytes. https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.20149

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