Experimental setup for measurements of transport properties at high temperature and under controlled atmosphere

Several devices able to measure the Seebeck coefficient have been devised over the years but most of these were designed to perform under vacuum or under inert atmosphere. We describe here a system designed for measuring thermoelectric power, electrical resistivity and differential conductance up to 1200 K, under the controlled partial pressure of oxygen including vacuum or reducing atmosphere for samples that are sensitive to oxygen, which allows the in situ investigation of the electrical properties of oxide materials and their phase diagram. The instrument we present here can also be used to ‘tune’ the properties of a compound through thermal treatment. This system is reliable and has been in use in our laboratory for more than three years.