Improved Design of a Photon Enhanced Thermionic Energy Converter

In this letter, the model of photon enhanced thermionic energy converter is improved to design a new vacuum thermionic energy converter (VTEC) consisting of a cathode and an anode, in which the two electrode materials are made of p-type silicon semiconductor coated negative electron affinity material and boron doped diamond. Formulas for the power output density and efficiency of the VTEC are derived. The electron affinity is optimized to obtain the maximum power output density and efficiency of the VTEC. Making a trade-off between the power output density and efficiency, the parametric optimum design criteria are determined. The results obtained in this letter are helpful for developing novel VTECs.