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Solar electron source and thermionic solar cell Yaghoobi, Parham; Moghaddam, Mehran Vahdani; Nojeh, Alireza
Abstract
Common solar technologies are either photovoltaic/thermophotovoltaic, or use indirect methods of electricity generation such as boiling water for a steam turbine. Thermionic energy conversion based on the emission of electrons from a hot cathode into vacuum and their collection by an anode is also a promising route. However, thermionic solar conversion is extremely challenging as the sunlight intensity is too low for heating a conventional cathode to thermionic emission temperatures in a practical manner. Therefore, compared to other technologies, little has been done in this area, and the devices have been mainly limited to large experimental apparatus investigated for space power applications.Based on a recently observed “Heat Trap” effect in carbon nanotube arrays, allowing their efficient heating with low-power light, we report the first compact thermionic solar cell. Even using a simple off-the-shelf focusing lens, the device delivered over 1 V across a load. The device also shows intrinsic storage capacity.
Item Metadata
Title |
Solar electron source and thermionic solar cell
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Creator | |
Publisher |
American Institute of Physics
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Date Issued |
2012-11-05
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Description |
Common solar technologies are either photovoltaic/thermophotovoltaic, or use indirect
methods of electricity generation such as boiling water for a steam turbine.
Thermionic energy conversion based on the emission of electrons from a hot cathode
into vacuum and their collection by an anode is also a promising route. However,
thermionic solar conversion is extremely challenging as the sunlight intensity is too
low for heating a conventional cathode to thermionic emission temperatures in a practical
manner. Therefore, compared to other technologies, little has been done in this
area, and the devices have been mainly limited to large experimental apparatus investigated
for space power applications.Based on a recently observed “Heat Trap” effect in
carbon nanotube arrays, allowing their efficient heating with low-power light, we report
the first compact thermionic solar cell. Even using a simple off-the-shelf focusing
lens, the device delivered over 1 V across a load. The device also shows intrinsic storage
capacity.
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Genre | |
Type | |
Language |
eng
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Date Available |
2013-02-01
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
Attribution 3.0 Unported
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DOI |
10.14288/1.0070774
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URI | |
Affiliation | |
Citation |
P. Yaghoobi, M. Vahdani Moghaddam, and A. Nojeh . “Solar electron source and thermionic solar cell.” AIP Advances, Vol. 2, Issue 4, 042139, (2012)
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Publisher DOI |
10.1063/1.4766942.
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Peer Review Status |
Reviewed
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Scholarly Level |
Faculty; Researcher; Postdoctoral
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Rights URI | |
Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
Attribution 3.0 Unported