期刊
NATURE MATERIALS
卷 9, 期 9, 页码 762-767出版社
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/NMAT2814
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资金
- Global Climate and Energy Project
- US Department of Energy, Division of Materials Sciences [DE-AC02-76SF00515]
- Robert Bosch Palo Alto Research and Technology Center
- DARPA through the Center on Interfacial Engineering in Microelectromechanical Systems
Solar-energy conversion usually takes one of two forms: the 'quantum' approach, which uses the large per-photon energy of solar radiation to excite electrons, as in photovoltaic cells, or the 'thermal' approach, which uses concentrated sunlight as a thermal-energy source to indirectly produce electricity using a heat engine. Here we present a new concept for solar electricity generation, photon-enhanced thermionic emission, which combines quantum and thermal mechanisms into a single physical process. The device is based on thermionic emission of photoexcited electrons from a semiconductor cathode at high temperature. Temperature-dependent photoemission-yield measurements from GaN show strong evidence for photon-enhanced thermionic emission, and calculated efficiencies for idealized devices can exceed the theoretical limits of single-junction photovoltaic cells. The proposed solar converter would operate at temperatures exceeding 200 degrees C, enabling its waste heat to be used to power a secondary thermal engine, boosting theoretical combined conversion efficiencies above 50%.
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