Energy storage is pivotal for the continuous utilization of solar energy suffering from the intermittency issue. Herein, we demonstrate a solar rechargeable flow cell（SRFC） based on photoelectrochemical regeneration...Energy storage is pivotal for the continuous utilization of solar energy suffering from the intermittency issue. Herein, we demonstrate a solar rechargeable flow cell（SRFC） based on photoelectrochemical regeneration of vanadium redox species for in-situ solar energy harvest and storage. In this device, TiO_2 and MWCNT/acetylene black（MWCNT/AB） composite are served as the photoanode and the counter electrode,respectively, with all vanadium redox couples, VO_2~＋/VO^（2＋）and VO^（2＋）/V^（3＋）, as solar energy storage media.Benefitting from solar energy, the cell can be photocharged under a bias as low as 0.1 V, which is much lower than the discharge voltage of ~0.5 V. Photocharged under the optimized condition, the cell delivers a discharge energy of 23.0 mWh/L with 67.4% input electric energy savings. This prototype work may inspire the rational design for cost-effective solar energy storage devices.展开更多
基金financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(grant no.21573230)973 National Basic Research Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology(grant no.2014CB239400)
文摘Energy storage is pivotal for the continuous utilization of solar energy suffering from the intermittency issue. Herein, we demonstrate a solar rechargeable flow cell（SRFC） based on photoelectrochemical regeneration of vanadium redox species for in-situ solar energy harvest and storage. In this device, TiO_2 and MWCNT/acetylene black（MWCNT/AB） composite are served as the photoanode and the counter electrode,respectively, with all vanadium redox couples, VO_2~＋/VO^（2＋）and VO^（2＋）/V^（3＋）, as solar energy storage media.Benefitting from solar energy, the cell can be photocharged under a bias as low as 0.1 V, which is much lower than the discharge voltage of ~0.5 V. Photocharged under the optimized condition, the cell delivers a discharge energy of 23.0 mWh/L with 67.4% input electric energy savings. This prototype work may inspire the rational design for cost-effective solar energy storage devices.
