ChemInform Abstract: Thin Film Cadmium Chalcogenide/Aqueous Polysulfide Photoelectrochemical Solar Cells with in-situ Tin Storage.
Abstract
A photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) consisting of thin film Cd(Se,Te) photoelectrodes and thin film CoS counterelectrodes immersed in aqueous polysulfide and separated by a cation selective membrane from a Sn electrode immersed in aqueous sulfide has been developed.
ChemInform Abstract
A photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) consisting of thin film Cd(Se,Te) photoelectrodes and thin film CoS counterelectrodes immersed in aqueous polysulfide and separated by a cation selective membrane from a Sn electrode immersed in aqueous sulfide has been developed. This PEC converts solar energy to both electrical and electrochemically stored energy. A decrease in cell illumination initiates spontaneous reconversion of electrochemical to electrical energy, providing nearly constant electrical power for an external applied load. Voltammetric sweeps indicate that the Sn/S2- half cell does not undergo passivation at storage potentials. Using the optimized cell performance, a storage efficiency of more than 90% can be achieved and cell operation is limited by photo and not storage conversion efficiency. Two weeks outdoor operation yields an overall (conversion and storage) solar to electrical conversion efficiency of 2.7%.
