What is Absorption Coefficient

The sustainable development of clean and efficient electricity generation techniques accelerated the research for invention of alternative electricity generation methods. In this chapter, the conceptual analysis of newly invented photon-enhanced thermionic emission (PETE) energy conversion process has been presented. It is a promising option for harvesting solar energy in terms of capturing photon as well as thermal energy simultaneously and converting solar energy into electrical energy based on photovoltaic and thermionic emission processes of energy conversion. Thus, the PETE process utilizes photons for PV conversion and heat of radiation for thermionic emission process. The main objective of this chapter is to review and analyze the performance of PETE converters including thermal modeling, choice of materials, and parametric optimization. The appropriate choice of material requirements for cathode and anode of PETE converters is necessary for practical design of PETE converters. The PETE converter may be an efficient future option for electricity generation using solar energy.