Okay, presumably you have the support from chemists either from an educational institute or commercial entity?
If so, at the very least I'd envisage a variety of fabrication and processing tools from sintering presses (possibly vacuum rated) to furnaces. Structural analytical tools might be off-site (x-ray diffractometers, etc.) while the 'thermoelectric' side of analysis is (perversely) the easiest; needing little more than stable power supplies and some well-calibrated thermometry.
If you're affiliated to an existing company or institute, that would help guide the direction - there are many novel TEMs and it would be wise to focus on a few candidates.