An All-vanadium Continuous-flow Photoelectrochemical Cell for Extending State-of-charge in Solar Energy Storage

Abstract Greater levels of solar energy storage provide an effective solution to the inherent nature of intermittency, and can substantially improve reliability, availability, and quality of the renewable energy source. Here we demonstrated an all-vanadium (all-V) continuous-flow photoelectrochemica...

Description complète

Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux: Zi Wei, Yi Shen, Dong Liu, Fuqiang Liu
Format: article
Langue:EN
Publié: Nature Portfolio 2017
Sujets:
R
Q
Accès en ligne:https://doaj.org/article/96103b0bc99645ffb2d45e1aebc0f1cd
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
Description
Résumé:Abstract Greater levels of solar energy storage provide an effective solution to the inherent nature of intermittency, and can substantially improve reliability, availability, and quality of the renewable energy source. Here we demonstrated an all-vanadium (all-V) continuous-flow photoelectrochemical storage cell (PESC) to achieve efficient and high-capacity storage of solar energy, through improving both photocurrent and photocharging depth. It was discovered that forced convective flow of electrolytes greatly enhanced the photocurrent by 5 times comparing to that with stagnant electrolytes. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) study revealed a great reduction of charge transfer resistance with forced convective flow of electrolytes as a result of better mass transport at U-turns of the tortuous serpentine flow channel of the cell. Taking advantage of the improved photocurrent and diminished charge transfer resistance, the all-V continuous-flow PESC was capable of producing ~20% gain in state of charge (SOC) under AM1.5 illumination for ca. 1.7 hours without any external bias. This gain of SOC was surprisingly three times more than that with stagnant electrolytes during a 25-hour period of photocharge.