A numerical design of opto-thermionic refrigeration with perovskite oxide heterostructures

Opto-thermionic refrigeration is an environment-friendly method. To improve the opto-thermionic refrigeration efficiency, a system with a perovskite oxide multilayer of p-BaTiO3/BaTiO3/SrTiO3/BaTiO3/n-BaTiO3 is proposed based on the model of opto-thermionic refrigeration. Because the Auger coefficient of SrTiO3 is two orders smaller than that of GaAs, the calculated refrigeration power of the p-BaTiO3/BaTiO3/SrTiO3/BaTiO3/n-BaTiO3 system is much higher than that of the p-AlGaAs/AlGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs/n-AlGaAs system. A refrigeration power of as high as 39 W cm−2 is obtained numerically in the p-BaTiO3/BaTiO3/SrTiO3/BaTiO3/n-BaTiO3 system, which suggests a potential application of the oxide structures in opto-thermionic refrigeration.