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The Solar-Rechargeable Battery Hybrid-Hybrid: One Step Closer to a Perpetual Motion Machine? (No, but interesting nonetheless.) by Jason Selch
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The Solar-Rechargeable Battery Hybrid-Hybrid: One Step Closer to a Perpetual Motion Machine? (No, but interesting nonetheless.)
By Jason Selch
From the latest issue of Nature Communications, a truly fascinating turn of events in the development of clean energy technology. Researchers at The Ohio State University (OSU) have invented the first-ever solar cell/rechargeable battery hybrid. This “breathing battery” uses a mesh solar panel that allows oxygen to escape from the device as the lithium oxide contained within decomposes.
Unlike a typical four-electrode rechargeable battery that would be attached to an independent solar panel, the new all-in-one invention uses only three electrodes. Sandwiched between the mesh solar panel (first electrode) and a lithium plate (third electrode) lies a thin sheet of porous carbon. Between these electrodes are layers of electrolyte that feature an iodide additive, allowing the electrons to travel easily from the battery electrode to the solar panel. The titanium mesh on the solar panel is coated in iron oxide, a durable semiconductor that tunes the wavelength of the light captured and avoids disintegration during the light capture process.
Co-inventor Yiying Wu reports that the device is nearly 100 percent efficient with iron oxide. Conventional solar-battery setups reach 80 percent efficiency. The project receives funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. For more on the solar panel/rechargeable battery hybrid, go here.
from Jason Selch on Energy http://bit.ly/1qdQgvB
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