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Photon-enhanced thermionic emission from heterostructures with low interface recombination

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  • J.W. Schwede

    (Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford University
    Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
    Stanford University)

  • T. Sarmiento

    (Stanford University)

  • V.K. Narasimhan

    (Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford University
    Stanford University)

  • S.J. Rosenthal

    (Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford University
    Stanford University)

  • D.C. Riley

    (Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford University
    Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
    Stanford University)

  • F. Schmitt

    (Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford University
    Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

  • I. Bargatin

    (Stanford University
    University of Pennsylvania)

  • K. Sahasrabuddhe

    (Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford University
    Stanford University)

  • R.T. Howe

    (Stanford University)

  • J.S. Harris

    (Stanford University)

  • N.A. Melosh

    (Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford University
    Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
    Stanford University)

  • Z.-X. Shen

    (Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford University
    Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
    Stanford University)

Abstract

Photon-enhanced thermionic emission is a method of solar-energy conversion that promises to combine photon and thermal processes into a single mechanism, overcoming fundamental limits on the efficiency of photovoltaic cells. Photon-enhanced thermionic emission relies on vacuum emission of photoexcited electrons that are in thermal equilibrium with a semiconductor lattice, avoiding challenging non-equilibrium requirements and exotic material properties. However, although previous work demonstrated the photon-enhanced thermionic emission effect, efficiency has until now remained very low. Here we describe electron-emission measurements on a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure that introduces an internal interface, decoupling the basic physics of photon-enhanced thermionic emission from the vacuum emission process. Quantum efficiencies are dramatically higher than in previous experiments because of low interface recombination and are projected to increase another order of magnitude with more stable, low work-function coatings. The results highlight the effectiveness of the photon-enhanced thermionic emission process and demonstrate that efficient photon-enhanced thermionic emission is achievable, a key step towards realistic photon-enhanced thermionic emission based energy conversion.

Suggested Citation

  • J.W. Schwede & T. Sarmiento & V.K. Narasimhan & S.J. Rosenthal & D.C. Riley & F. Schmitt & I. Bargatin & K. Sahasrabuddhe & R.T. Howe & J.S. Harris & N.A. Melosh & Z.-X. Shen, 2013. "Photon-enhanced thermionic emission from heterostructures with low interface recombination," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 1-6, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms2577
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2577
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    Cited by:

    1. Su, Shanhe & Chen, Xiaohang & Liao, Tianjun & Chen, Jincan & Shih, Tien-Mo, 2016. "Photon-enhanced electron tunneling solar cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 52-56.
    2. Peng, Wanli & Li, Wangyang & Chen, Xiaohang & Su, Guozhen & Chen, Jincan, 2019. "Optimum operation states and parametric selection criteria of an updated solar-driven AMTEC," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 209-216.
    3. Xiao, Gang & Zheng, Guanghua & Qiu, Min & Li, Qiang & Li, Dongsheng & Ni, Mingjiang, 2017. "Thermionic energy conversion for concentrating solar power," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 1318-1342.
    4. Han, Yuan & Zhang, Houcheng & Hu, Ziyang & Hou, Shujin, 2021. "An efficient hybrid system using a graphene-based cathode vacuum thermionic energy converter to harvest the waste heat from a molten hydroxide direct carbon fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    5. Yang Yang & Wei Wei Cao & Peng Xu & Bing Li Zhu & Yong Lin Bai & Bo Wang & Jun Jun Qin & Xiao Hong Bai, 2020. "Temperature-Dependent Analysis of Solid-State Photon-Enhanced Thermionic Emission Solar Energy Converter," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-10, March.

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