Performance optimization of three-terminal energy selective electron generators

The energy selective electron device works among electron reservoirs with different temperatures and chemical potentials. Electrons obey the Fermi-Dirac distribution, and with the help of resonant filters, a part of electrons with specific energy levels can tunnel among reservoirs and provide current to an external circuit. Herein, an irreversible three-terminal energy selective electron generator model is proposed. Using statistical mechanics and finite-time-thermodynamics, analytical expressions of power and efficiency are derived, and the optimal performance of the device is investigated. Results show that the central energy level difference of filters, the chemical potential difference of low-temperature reservoirs, the interval of mean-central-energy-level of filters and the mean-chemical-potential of low-temperature reservoirs can be optimized to maximize power and efficiency. On the basis of power and efficiency analyses, performance characteristics under different objective functions, including efficient power and ecological function, are discussed and the corresponding optimal performance regions are obtained. The relationship between the entropy generation rate and the efficiency is investigated, and it is shown that the minimum-entropy-generation-state does not coincide with the maximum-efficiency-state.