Photorechargeable High Voltage Redox Battery Enabled by Ta3N5 and GaN/Si Dual‐Photoelectrode

Solar rechargeable battery combines the advantages of photoelectrochemical devices and batteries and has emerged as an attractive alternative to artificial photosynthesis for large‐scale solar energy harvesting and storage. Due to the low photovoltages by the photoelectrodes, however, most previous...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Advanced materials (Weinheim) 2017-07, Vol.29 (26), p.n/a
Main Authors: Cheng, Qingmei, Fan, Weiqiang, He, Yumin, Ma, Peiyan, Vanka, Srinivas, Fan, Shizhao, Mi, Zetian, Wang, Dunwei
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
1.2 V
Batteries
Circuits
Discharge
Electric potential
Energy harvesting
Energy storage
GaN nanowire
Materials science
Nanowires
Photoelectrochemical devices
Photosynthesis
Photovoltages
Rechargeable batteries
redox battery
Solar energy
solar energy conversion
Ta3N5
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Solar rechargeable battery combines the advantages of photoelectrochemical devices and batteries and has emerged as an attractive alternative to artificial photosynthesis for large‐scale solar energy harvesting and storage. Due to the low photovoltages by the photoelectrodes, however, most previous demonstrations of unassisted photocharge have been realized on systems with low open circuit potentials (5 mA cm–2). The photoelectrode system makes it possible to operate a 1.2 V alkaline anthraquinone/ferrocyanide redox battery with a high ideal solar‐to‐chemical conversion efficiency of 3.0% without externally applied potentials. Importantly, the photocharged battery is successfully discharged with a high voltage output. A dual‐photoelectrode system based on a Ta3N5 nanotube photoanode and a GaN nanowire/Si photocathode enables the unassisted photocharge of a 1.2 V aqueous anthraquinone/ferrocyanide redox battery. The measured photovoltage of 1.4 V is the highest for similar experiments. Together with the high operating photocurrent densities, these photoelectrodes promise a route toward efficient solar rechargeable redox batteries.
ISSN:0935-9648
1521-4095
DOI:10.1002/adma.201700312