Solar vanadium redox-flow battery powered by thin-film silicon photovoltaics for efficient photoelectrochemical energy storage
| Autor: | Joan Ramon Morante, Nicole Nembhard, Javier Vázquez‐Galván, Cristina Flox, Sebastián Murcia-López, Katharina Welter, Vladimir Smirnov, Friedhelm Finger, Teresa Andreu, Félix Urbain |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Institut de Recerca en Energía de Catalunya, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament de Ciència dels Materials i Enginyeria Metal·lúrgica |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Předmět: |
Solar cells
Silicon Materials science Energy storage Acoustics and Ultrasonics Energies [Àrees temàtiques de la UPC] 02 engineering and technology 010402 general chemistry 01 natural sciences 7. Clean energy Energia -- Conversió law.invention law Photovoltaics Solar cell Energy transformation Física [Àrees temàtiques de la UPC] business.industry Energy conversion efficiency Vanadium 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology Condensed Matter Physics Solar energy Flow battery Energy conversion 0104 chemical sciences Surfaces Coatings and Films Electronic Optical and Magnetic Materials Renewable energy Optoelectronics Cèl·lules solars 0210 nano-technology business |
| Zdroj: | UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya instname |
| ISSN: | 1361-6463 0022-3727 |
| DOI: | 10.1088/1361-6463/aaeab9 |
| Popis: | Solar-powered vanadium redox-flow batteries (VRFB) have emerged as an attractive method for large-scale and efficient energy storage and conversion. However, due to the stringent charging voltage requirements of vanadium-based systems (1.4–1.7 V), common photobatteries, applying standard photovoltaics with nonoptimized photovoltages, cannot be completely charged bias-free, i.e. by only using bias-free solar energy, or if they can be, only at unpractical low current densities of just a few mA cm-2. In response to this critical challenge, the present study aimed to design and test a compact device combining a high photovoltage silicon multijunction solar cell with an all-vanadium continuous-flow battery. In particular, we applied a monolithic triple junction solar cell, which can provide photovoltage of up to 2.2 V. Additionally, we have introduced the concept of increased illumination intensity for the solar VRFB. As a first demonstration, a complete bias-free solar charging at 25 mAcm-2 (300 mW cm-2 illumination) is reported. Moreover, we investigated the influence of the operation parameters of the redox-flow battery itself: the membrane type and the vanadium concentration in the electrolyte (i.e. storage capacity). The presented results provide evidence that the low-cost thin-film silicon based solar VRFB can be considered as an outstanding alternative for practical energy storage and conversion usage. A maximum bias-free solar conversion efficiency of 12.3% was achieved during charging, combined with promising and competitive energy efficiencies for the complete charge–discharge process that can guarantee an overall solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency of >10%. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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