High-Performance Thermionic Energy Converters Based on Cd<sub>3</sub>As<sub>2</sub> Anode
Xin Zhang, Yi Xiong, Yee Sin Ang, L. K. Ang, Juncheng Guo
Abstract
The unusual electronic properties of 3-D topological Dirac semimetals have led to intensive research efforts focusing on their potential applications in high-performance electronic, photonic, and optoelectronic devices. In this work, we propose a conceptual design of thermionic energy converters (TECs) based on a Cd <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> As <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> anode with significantly improved performance. Using the electronic properties of Cd <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> As <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> —an air-stable topological Dirac semimetal—from first-principle density functional theory (DFT) calculation, such a device can achieve a maximum output power density and conversion efficiency of 10.96 W/cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> and 57.29% at 1800 K, respectively. The advantages of topological Dirac anode over conventional metal- and graphene-based TECs are revealed. This work opens an exciting route toward high-performance energy converters via the union of topological material and thermionic devices.