Modeling a thermionic energy converter using finite-difference time-domain particle-in-cell simulations

A thermionic energy converter (TEC) is a static device that converts heat directly into electricity by boiling electrons from a hot emitter surface across a small inter electrode gap to a cooler collector surface. The main challenge in TECs is overcoming the space charge limit, which limits the amount of current that can transmit across a gap of a given voltage and width. In this preliminary work, it is found that the OOPD1 simulation results is in good agreement with analytical results. We have verified the feasibility of studying and developing a TEC using a bounded finite-difference time-domain particle-in-cell plasma simulation code, OOPD1 developed by PTSG, UC Berkeley.