As essential components of an electrical propulsion system, traditional hollow cathodes, such as BaO-W and LaB₆, have stringent requirements on the ignition procedure and propellant purity. The C12A7 hollow cathode with electride inserts, with a reported low work function and resistance to poisoning effects, has shown great potential in replacing traditional cathodes. To avoid the primary problems of frequent melting and degradation of the C12A7 emitter, which might be caused by the heaterless ignition process, a designed C12A7 hollow cathode with a heater was tested and successfully ignited with Xe propellant in this study. The emitting temperature of the C12A7 hollow cathode is estimated to be approximately 1000–1100 °C. The operational characteristics of the C12A7 hollow cathode in diode and triode configurations are presented, including the operating parameters when the discharge mode transition occurred. The C12A7 hollow cathode was subsequently jointly operated with a classic SPT-type Hall effect thruster (HET) for a nominal power of 400W. The HET was specially designed for Iodine propellant and has been tested with a LaB₆ hollow cathode. It is successfully ignited by the C12A7 hollow cathode and works stably at 200 W for approximately 3 h. After more than 10 h of operation in a month with multiple exposures to the atmosphere, no obvious degradation of the C12A7 emitter is detected. The experimental results of the C12A7 hollow cathode show comparable performance and fast ignition and thus offer great potential in replacing traditional hollow cathodes, especially in low-power missions.

作为电力推进系统的重要组成部分，传统的空心阴极，如 BaO-W 和 LaB ₆，对点火程序和推进剂纯度有严格的要求。具有电子插入物的 C12A7 空心阴极，据报道具有低功函数和抗中毒效应，在替代传统阴极方面显示出巨大潜力。为了避免可能由无加热器点火过程引起的 C12A7 发射体频繁熔化和降解的主要问题，本研究对设计的带有加热器的 C12A7 空心阴极进行了测试，并成功地用氙推进剂点燃。C12A7 空心阴极的发射温度估计约为 1000-1100 °C。介绍了二极管和三极管配置中 C12A7 空心阴极的工作特性，包括发生放电模式转换时的工作参数。C12A7 空心阴极随后与经典的 SPT 型霍尔效应推进器 (HET) 联合运行，额定功率为 400W。HET 是专门为碘推进剂设计的，并已通过 LaB 测试₆空心阴极。它由 C12A7 空心阴极成功点燃，并在 200 W 下稳定工作约 3 小时。在一个月内多次暴露于大气中超过 10 小时后，未检测到 C12A7 发射体的明显退化。C12A7空心阴极的实验结果显示出相当的性能和快速点火，因此在替代传统空心阴极方面具有巨大的潜力，特别是在低功率任务中。