ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2018 Jul 11;10(27):23048-23054. doi: 10.1021/acsami.8b04314. Epub 2018 Jun 27.
The rapid deployment of renewable energy is resulting in significant energy security, climate change mitigation, and economic benefits. We demonstrate here the direct solar-energy harvesting and storage in a rechargeable solar-powered redox cell, which can be charged solely by solar irradiation. The cell follows a conventional redox-flow cell design with one integrated TiO photoanode in the cathode side. Direct charging of the cell by solar irradiation results in the conversion of solar energy in to chemical energy. Whereas discharging the cell leads to the release of chemical energy in the form of electricity. The cell integrates energy conversion and storage processes in a single device, making the solar energy directly and efficiently dispatchable. When using redox couples of Br/Br and I/I in the cathode side and anode side, respectively, the cell can be directly charged upon solar irradiation, yielding a discharge potential of 0.5 V with good round-trip efficiencies. This design is expected to be a potential alternative toward the development of affordable, inexhaustible, and clean solar-energy technologies.
可再生能源的快速部署正在带来重大的能源安全、气候变化缓解和经济效益。我们在这里展示了在可充电太阳能氧化还原电池中直接进行太阳能收集和存储的情况，该电池仅可通过太阳能照射进行充电。该电池采用传统氧化还原液流电池设计，在阴极侧集成了一个 TiO 光阳极。通过太阳能照射直接给电池充电会将太阳能转化为化学能。而放电时则以电能的形式释放化学能。该电池将能量转换和存储过程集成在单个设备中，使太阳能能够直接高效地利用。当在阴极侧和阳极侧分别使用 Br/Br 和 I/I 氧化还原对时，电池可以在太阳能照射下直接充电，产生 0.5 V 的放电电位，并且具有良好的往返效率。这种设计有望成为开发经济实惠、取之不尽、清洁的太阳能技术的潜在替代方案。
