Leland Stanford Junior University

Jared W Schwede

Nicholas A Melosh

Igor Bargatin

Zhixun Shen

Daniel Riley

Kunal Sahasrabuddhe

Zhi-Xun Shen

The embodiments provide a thermionic emission device and a method for tuning a work function in a thermionic emission device is provided. The method includes illuminating an N type semiconductor material of a first member of a thermionic emission device, wherein a work function of the N type semiconductor material is lowered by the illuminating. The method includes collecting, on one of the first member or a second member of the thermionic emission device, electrons emitted from one of the first member or the second member.

Method for tuning work function using surface photo voltage and producing ultra-low-work-function surfaces, and devices operational therewith

Method for tuning work function using surface photovoltage and producing ultra-low-work-function surfaces, and devices operational therewith

Photon Enhanced Thermionic Emission (PETE) is exploited to provide improved efficiency for radiant energy conversion. A hot (greater than 200&#xb0; C.) semiconductor cathode is illuminated such that it emits electrons. Because the cathode is hot, significantly more electrons are emitted than would be emitted from a room temperature (or colder) cathode under the same illumination conditions. As a result of this increased electron emission, the energy conversion efficiency can be significantly increased relative to a conventional photovoltaic device. In PETE, the cathode electrons can be (and typically are) thermalized with respect to the cathode. As a result, PETE does not rely on emission of non-thermalized electrons, and is significantly easier to implement than hot-carrier emission approaches.

Photon enhanced thermionic emission

Growing community of inventors

Stanford, CA, United States of America

Jared W Schwede