Development of electron reflection suppression materials for improved thermionic energy converter performance using thin film deposition techniques

Nonideal electrode surfaces cause significant degree of electron reflection from collector during thermionic converter operation. The effect of the collector surface structure on the converter performance was assessed through the development of several electron reflection suppression materials using various thin film deposition techniques. The double-diode probe method was used to compare the J-V characteristics of converters with polished and modified collector surfaces for emitter temperature and cesium vapor pressure in the ranges of 900-2000 K and 0.02-1.5 torr, respectively. The coadsorption of cesium and oxygen with respective partial vapor pressures of similar to 1.27 torr and a few microtorrs reduced the emitter work function to a minimum value of 0.99 eV. It was found that the collector surfaces with matte black appearance such as platinum black, voided nickel from radio-frequency plasma sputtering, and etched electroless Ni-P with craterlike pore morphology exhibited much better performance compared with polished collector surface. For these thin films, the increase in the maximum output voltage was up to 2.0 eV. For optimum performance with minimum work function and maximum saturation emission current density, the emitter temperature was in the range of 1100-1500 K, depending on the collector surface structure. The use of these materials in cylindrical converter design and/or in combination with hybrid mode triode configuration holds great potential in low and medium scale power generators for commercial use. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.