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16 January 2018 Theoretical studies of thermionic conversion of solar energy with graphene as emitter and collector
Olukunle C. Olawole, Dilip Kumar De
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Journal of Photonics for Energy, Vol. 8, Issue 1, 018001 (January 2018). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JPE.8.018001
Abstract
Thermionic energy conversion (TEC) using nanomaterials is an emerging field of research. It is known that graphene can withstand temperatures as high as 4600 K in vacuum, and it has been shown that its work function can be engineered from a high value (for monolayer/bilayer) of 4.6 eV to as low as 0.7 eV. Such attractive electronic properties (e.g., good electrical conductivity and high dielectric constant) make engineered graphene a good candidate as an emitter and collector in a thermionic energy converter for harnessing solar energy efficiently. We have used a modified Richardson–Dushman equation and have adopted a model where the collector temperature could be controlled through heat extraction in a calculated amount and a magnet can be attached on the back surface of the collector for future control of the space-charge effect. Our work shows that the efficiency of solar energy conversion also depends on power density falling on the emitter surface, and that a power conversion efficiency of graphene-based solar TEC as high as 55% can be easily achieved (in the absence of the space-charge effect) through proper choice of work functions, collector temperature, and emissivity of emitter surfaces. Such solar energy conversion would reduce our dependence on silicon solar panels and offers great potential for future renewable energy utilization.
CC BY: © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.
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Olukunle C. Olawole and Dilip Kumar De "Theoretical studies of thermionic conversion of solar energy with graphene as emitter and collector," Journal of Photonics for Energy 8(1), 018001 (16 January 2018). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JPE.8.018001
Received: 29 August 2017; Accepted: 12 December 2017; Published: 16 January 2018
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Cited by 20 scholarly publications and 6 patents.
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KEYWORDS
Solar energy
Graphene
Electrons
Metals
Energy efficiency
Mirrors
Silicon carbide
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