The electronic structure and thermionic emission property of single crystal SmB6

The optical floating zone method was employed to fabricate the Samarium hexaboride (SmB6), which were high-quality single crystals. The density function theory was used to calculate the electronic structures of the SmB6, which exhibits the large density of states near Fermi level. And the d electrons of Sm element contribute the electronic states near the Fermi level, which imply that the (100) crystal surface has a highest Sm concentration which provide a low work function. The thermionic emission test shows that the effective work function of the single crystal SmB6 on (100) crystal surface is 2.76eV. The SmB6 single crystals have potential application prospects as a hot cathode.