Near-Field Enhanced Thermionic Energy Conversion for Renewable Energy Recycling

This article proposes a new energy harvesting concept that greatly enhances thermionic power generation with high e ciency by exploiting the near- field enhancement of thermal radiation. The proposed near-field enhanced thermionic energy conversion (NETEC) system is uniquely configured with a low-ba...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2017-03
Main Authors: Ghashami, Mohammad, Sung Kwon Cho, Park, Keunhan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Emitters
Emitters (electron)
Energy
Energy conversion
Energy harvesting
Hybrid systems
Photoexcitation
Recycling
Renewable energy
Renewable resources
Thermal radiation
Thermionic generators
Thermionic power generation
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Summary:This article proposes a new energy harvesting concept that greatly enhances thermionic power generation with high e ciency by exploiting the near- field enhancement of thermal radiation. The proposed near-field enhanced thermionic energy conversion (NETEC) system is uniquely configured with a low-bandgap semiconductor cathode separated from a thermal emitter with a subwavelength gap distance, such that a significant amount of electrons can be photoexcited by near-field thermal radiation to contribute to the enhancement of thermionic current density. We theoretically demonstrate that the NETEC system can generate electric power at a significantly lower temperature than the standard thermionic generator, and the energy conver- sion e ciency can exceed 40%. The obtained results reveal that near-field photoexcitation can enhance the thermionic power output by more than 10 times, making this hybrid system attractive for renewable energy recycling.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1703.03880