The thermovoltaic effect in SmS under deformation by a spherical indenter

The possibility of the thermovoltaic effect in a samarium sulfide (SmS) sample of stoichiometric composition that has experienced undergone deformation under the effect of a spherical indenter has been experimentally studied in a temperqature interval of 300–475 K. Generation of electric voltage up to 13 mV at $T$ = 473 K has been observed and explained by the appearance of a concentration gradient of Sm$^{2+}$ ions in the sample and by a change in the depth of donor levels due to the presence of compressed regions formed on the surface under pressure of an indenter.