Magneto-thermoelectric performance of bulk composite Fe3O4/Pt pellets: Combined spin Seebeck and anomalous Nernst effects

In this article, we show the measurement of the magneto-thermoelectric effect (spin Seebeck and anomalous Nernst effects) of bulk composite pellets prepared from nanopowders of Fe3O4 and Pt. We compare structural, magnetic, and thermoelectric data as the Pt% is increased against a control series of pellets, where sintering temperature and time are varied and a 5 nm layer of Pt is sputtered onto the surface. We also compare the measured thermoelectric efficiency and figure of merit of the composite pellets to our control and a benchmark thin film, where we find an order-of-magnitude increase. This suggests that composite pellets could be a route forward in scaling up the spin Seebeck effect from thin film to bulk.