Researchers from University of Texas at Arlington have developed an all-vanadium photo-electrochemical (PEC) cell which can continue to store solar energy at night.
The researchers’ design takes advantage of reversible redox-couple reactants that remain in the liquid form during both photocharge and discharge.
The results indicate a synergy between electron storage and the all-vanadium electrolytes, which the team claims could offer dark conversion, high-capacity electron storage, and improved photocurrent.
Previous attempts at creating a PEC system have failed due to problems such as ohmic loss.
Preliminary results state that hydrogen tungsten bronze was responsible for the storage and release of photogenerated electrons from the semiconductor.
The materials science and engineering team, led by Fuqiang Liu, an assistant professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Department, is now working on a larger prototype.
The research is detailed in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Catalysis.
PICTURE: Dong Liu (left), Zi Wei (center) and Fuqiang Liu, an assistant professor in the UT Arlington Materials Science and Engineering Department
