Experimental Investigation of Bulk and Thin Film Perovskite SrVO3 as a Thermionic Cathode Material

First-principles calculations based on Density Functional Theory (DFT) previously revealed that perovskite SrVO3 is a promising candidate for thermionic emission applications. In this work, polycrystalline bulk and epitaxial thin film SrVO3 samples have been experimentally examined. Both bulk and epitaxial SrVO3 can exhibit low work function, consistent with DFT calculations and corresponding promising thermionic emission behavior. SrVO3 is a potentially good thermionic emitter material and points more broadly to perovskite materials as a family of compounds which may further the development of next-generation thermionic electron emitters.