Aqueous electrolyte solutions under the influence of a temperature gradient
can generate thermoelectric fields, which arise from different responses of the
positive and negative charges. This is related to the thermo diffusion effect
which is quantified by the ionic heat of transport and the thermal diffusion
coefficient. When a solution is confined between two metallic electrodes with
different temperatures, it is expected to measure the electrostatic potential
difference due to the thermoelectric field. We performed experiments in aqueous
electrolyte solutions, and our results show that a thermoelectric field appears
instantly in the solution as the temperature difference between the electrodes
stabilizes. This field arises from the trend to separate both ionic charges in
the temperature gradient. The experimental results also show that a slow change
in the potential difference is observed, which is related to thermodiffusion in
the entire cell. These results are important to understand how the
thermoelectric response can be optimized, given the broad interest in the
literature to generate thermoelectric energy from thermoelectric cells