The generation of electromotive force (emf) for respective rise in temperature, due to Seebeck effect, in different wire pairs like silver-copper, aluminium-copper and silver-alloy-copper has been studied. The wireswith specific elemental compositionwere firstly manufactured in-house. The emf generation is also calculated using Mott-Jones approach for silver-copper and aluminium-copper pure metal pairs and compared with measured values. The study reveals that measured emf deviates from ideal values, reasons for the same are explored. Under the context of silver and copper being used for making miniature circuit board elements, the study indicates a need for the control of emf due to thermoelectric effect. © The Author(s) 2016.