Output characteristics of thermionic converter with composited emitter structure

A new method to improve the efficiency of output characteristics in the un-ignited mode of a cesium vapor thermionic energy converter was proposed. Composited emitter structure with two kinds of materials, of which workfunctions are different with each other, was prepared and output the current-voltage characteristics were measured. From the experimental results, it was found that the saturated values of the out put current increases by the factor of 1.5 or 2 compared to that of the converter with uniform emitter. (author)