Thermionic-Thermoradiative Converters

A thermionic-thermoradiative converter (TITRC) is established by combining the concepts of the thermionic emission and thermoluminescence, where the main irreversible losses are considered. The TITRC utilizes simultaneously electron and photon fluxes and converts directly a part of them into electricity, which enables a significant enhancement on the heat transfer and performance of the TITRC. Compared with either the thermionic energy generator or the thermoradiative device, the TITRC possesses advantages of higher power output and conversion efficiency in an extended temperature range. When the emitter in the TITRC is operated at 1500 K and Ag-O-Cs is used as the collector, the maximum power density and efficiency of the proposed TITRC can reach up to 0.301 Wcm
^-2
and 22.5%, respectively. This letter can benefit the optimal design of the TITRC, and shed light on developing the ongoing research of the alternative energy harvesting devices.