Performance evaluation and design exploration of a novel thermionic emission-based sensor for high-temperature measurements
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Qiu, Hao
Wang, Xing
Xiao, Gang
Markides, Christos N
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The accurate measurement of high temperatures in practical systems is a significant challenge, as conventional temperature sensors suffer from performance degradation and, in severe cases, failure in extreme thermal environments. To address this challenge, we propose for the first time, and systematically investigate, a novel thermionic emission-based temperature sensor (TETS), specifically for high and ultra-high temperature measurement applications. A comprehensive model that accounts for the thermionic emission and space-charge effects in such sensors is first developed, and then used to explore the performance of a range of sensor designs. The results demonstrate that TETSs can maintain a high measurement sensitivity over a wide range of high temperatures from 1200 to 2200 K with a peak sensitivity of ∼0.40 A/(cm2·K). It is also found that TETS performance can be tuned via the adjustment of key parameters, including the applied voltage, electrode gap and work functions; specifically, increasing the applied voltage from 0 to 4 V improves the peak sensitivity from 0.06 to 0.40 A/(cm2·K), and shifts the peak sensitivity toward higher temperatures by ∼200 K. This tunability, which is enabled by the non-monotonic behaviour of the temperature sensitivity of these sensors, is highly beneficial for temperature measurements in diverse applications. The sensitivity initially improves with temperature, reaches a distinct peak at a specific temperature, and then deteriorates. This characteristic leads to an extended measurement range, and allows a given sensor to maintain high sensitivity over different temperature intervals. This study provides a technical foundation and design guidelines for TETSs, which emerge as a highly promising measurement technology that overcomes the limitations of conventional temperature measurement options.
Date Issued
2026-11-15
Date Acceptance
2026-08-02
Citation
Measurement, 2026, 290, Part A
ISSN
0263-2241
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Journal / Book Title
Measurement
Volume
290, Part A
Copyright Statement
© 2026 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
122763
Date Publish Online
2026-08-03