Efficient harvesting and storage of solar energy of an all-vanadium solar redox flow battery with a MoS2@TiO2 photoelectrode

Solar redox flow batteries constitute an emerging technology that provides a smart alternative for the capture and storage of discontinuous solar energy through the photo-generation of the discharged redox species employed in traditional redox flow batteries. Here, we show that a MoS2-decorated TiO2...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Materials for energy and sustainability, 2022, Vol.10 (19), p.10484-10492
Main Authors: Tian, Gengyu, Jervis, Rhodri, Briscoe, Joe, Titirici, Magdalena, Sobrido, Ana Jorge
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anolytes
Batteries
Chemical energy
Energy conversion
Energy conversion efficiency
Energy storage
Flow
Molybdenum disulfide
New technology
Oxidation
Photoelectric effect
Photovoltaic cells
Rechargeable batteries
Renewable energy
Solar energy
Solar energy conversion
Titanium dioxide
Vanadium
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Summary:Solar redox flow batteries constitute an emerging technology that provides a smart alternative for the capture and storage of discontinuous solar energy through the photo-generation of the discharged redox species employed in traditional redox flow batteries. Here, we show that a MoS2-decorated TiO2 (MoS2@TiO2) photoelectrode can successfully harvest light to be stored in a solar redox flow battery using vanadium ions as redox active species in both the catholyte and anolyte, and without the use of any bias. The MoS2@TiO2 photoelectrode achieved an average photocurrent density of ∼0.4 mA cm−2versus 0.08 mA cm−2 for bare TiO2, when tested for the oxidation of V4+ to V5+, attributed to a more efficient light harvesting and charge separation for the MoS2@TiO2 relative to TiO2. The designed solar redox flow cell exhibited an optimal overall solar-to-output energy conversion efficiency (SOEE) of ∼4.78%, which outperforms previously reported solar redox flow batteries. This work demonstrates the potential of the MoS2@TiO2 photoelectrode to efficiently convert solar energy into chemical energy in a solar redox flow battery, and it also validates the great potential of this technology to increase reliability in renewable energies.
ISSN:2050-7488
2050-7496
DOI:10.1039/d2ta00739h