Thermionic Energy Conversion in the Twenty-first Century: Advances and Opportunities for Space and Terrestrial Applications

Thermionic energy conversion (TEC) is the direct conversion of heat into electricity by the mechanism of thermionic emission, the spontaneous ejection of hot electrons from a surface. Although the physical mechanism has been known for over a century, it has yet to be consistently realized in a manne...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: David B. Go, John R. Haase, Jeffrey George, Jochen Mannhart, Robin Wanke, Alireza Nojeh, Robert Nemanich
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2017-11-01
Series:Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmech.2017.00013/full