Solar Energy Conversion and Electron Storage by a Cu<sub>2</sub>O/CuO Photocapacitive Electrode

Solar conversion devices are generally connected with energy storage systems to overcome the influence of sunlight variability. Developing an integrated solar energy conversion and storage device is an attractive approach to compensate for the energy loss of directly connecting these separate device...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Huangjun Xue, Xin Wen, Cheng Fu, Haolan Zhan, Zongquan Zou, Ruifen Zhang, Yongpeng Xia, Fen Xu, Lixian Sun
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-04-01
Series:Energies
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/7/3231
Description
Summary:Solar conversion devices are generally connected with energy storage systems to overcome the influence of sunlight variability. Developing an integrated solar energy conversion and storage device is an attractive approach to compensate for the energy loss of directly connecting these separate devices. In this work, a photocapacitive device is developed based on the Cu<sub>2</sub>O/CuO heterostructure, with Cu<sub>2</sub>O as a light absorber and CuO providing a platform for electron and ion storage. The coupling of Cu<sub>2</sub>O and CuO leads to a high specific capacitance of 135 mF/cm<sup>2</sup> under bias and an open-circuit potential of 0.62 V<sub>RHE</sub>. A photo-charge and dark-discharge ability of Cu<sub>2</sub>O/CuO system under zero-bias is also discovered and explained based on the concept of Faradaic junction. This work presents an avenue for the investigation of high-performance Cu<sub>2</sub>O-based solar energy storage devices.
ISSN:1996-1073