Use of gel polymer electrolytes to integrate photoelectric conversion and energy storage

Abstract

Solar energy is considered as one of the effective and alternative solutions for the power crisis as predicted to be taken place within next few years. But, there is a serious challenge existing with solar energy. That is to storing it for usage when required. Redox capacitors have been identified as a good energy storage device and this study is based on fabricating a dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) and employing a redox capacitor to store solar energy produced by the DSSC. DSSC was fabricated using a gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) with an optimized composition. Redox capacitor was based on a GPE and two identical conducting polymer electrodes. Main reason for selecting a GPE for the DSSC and the redox capacitor is that most of the research work has been carried out with liquid electrolytes and they have undergone adverse effects including short life time, leakage and spilling. Open circuit potential, short circuit current density, fill factor and efficiency of DSSC were found out as 0.68V, 0.00033Acm−2, 0.24 and 0.05% respectively. Redox capacitor was charged by the DSSC for 722s and discharged galvanostatically. Within 36s, it was possible to discharge the redox capacitor completely. The stability of the integrated device was satisfactory. This study is an initial attempt to explore the possibility of using a redox capacitor to store solar energy.