Effects of graphite intercalation with cesium in a thermionic converter

Abstract

The thermionic energy converter (TEC) with inter-electrode low-temperature plasma and cesium vapor dynamic flow in the inter-electrode gap (IEG) demonstrated an increase in efficiency of up to 20%. This was mainly reached due to the decrease in the effective electron work function to an anomalously low value of the order of 1 eV from a perforated nickel collector covered with nanosized graphite flakes under the converter working conditions. SEM X-ray microanalysis of the collector surface layers was performed, and the model of the effects proposed.