Yarygin V.I., Тulin S.M.
A.I. Leypunsky Institute for Physics and Power Engineering, Obninsk, Russia
The article proposed a physical model for the formation of an effective emission surface of collector of a thermionic converter (TIC) using the example of a chromium-vanadium alloy of ВХ2У transition metals active to oxygen, non-carbonizing in the working range of collector temperatures of 800–1000 K. In the article, based on new research results published in articles of highly rated scientific journals and protected by the scientific discovery of the phenomenon of amorphous carbon (graphite) conversion in the medium of thermionic low-temperature cesium plasma into a multilayer graphene-like structure intercalated with cesium, the authors' ideas about two places of cesium adsorption are based: on a two-dimensional suboxide and a multilayer grphene-like structure intercalated with cesium. Such a surface emission system on the TIC collector experimentally ensured a high efficiency of the energy conversion working process, characterized by achieving a collector work function of 1.3–1.5 eV, a barrier index of 1.9–2.0 eV, the corresponding value of the electrode efficiency ~17 % at an emitter temperature of ~1800 K.
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