2018-Sustainable Industrial Processing Summit
SIPS2018 Volume 2. Amatore Intl. Symp. / on Electrochemistry for Sustainable Development
| Editors: | F. Kongoli, H. Inufasa, M. G. Boutelle , R. Compton, J.-M. Dubois, F. Murad |
| Publisher: | Flogen Star OUTREACH |
| Publication Year: | 2018 |
| Pages: | 216 pages |
| ISBN: | 978-1-987820-84-3 |
| ISSN: | 2291-1227 (Metals and Materials Processing in a Clean Environment Series) |
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Performance of Lyotropic Liquid Crystal-based Photoelectrochemical Capacitors for Solar-to-Electrical Energy Conversion
Jonathan Halls1; Haydn Ward1; Amal A. Althali1; Laetitia Testut1; David Kocsis1; Huda S. Alhassan1; S.M. Kelly1; Nathan Lawrence1; Jay Deep Wadhawan2;1THE UNIVERSITY OF HULL, Hull, United Kingdom; 2THE UNIVERSITY OF HULL, Kingston-upon-Hull, United Kingdom;
Type of Paper: Regular
Id Paper: 410
Topic: 47
Abstract:
Regenerative photoelectrochemical capacitors adapted from an experimental system previously reported (J. E. Halls, J. D. Wadhawan, Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 6541) and based on the doping of a lamellar lyotropic liquid crystal with visible light sensitizer tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II), N-methylphenothiazine, zinc(II) ions and potassium chloride (as electrolyte) are examined in this work. The two dye species, by virtue of similarity in redox potentials and difference in size and lipophilicity, allow for electron transfer cascades to occur under illumination, which can be harnessed in a power-generating device through the use of a sacrificial counter electrode. In operation as a solar cell, a maximum light-to-electrical power conversion efficiency is reported as being 5.0% under green light (530 nm centreband, 30 nm bandwidth, 2.2 mW cm-2 intensity), which extrapolates to the opportunistic value of 1% under one Sun conditions. The electrical characteristics of the devices under illumination afford specific capacitances of ca. 2 F g-1 and have fill factors ~20% which are close to the 25% expected for a perfect photogalvanic cell. The time constants of the reported devices (~1 s) are consistent with the notion of electroporation of the surfactant lamellæ. The advantages of these mid-ranging photoelectrochemical capacitors are suggested as being their low cost and versatility afforded by their flexible liquid framework that is able to realign itself under conditions of open circuit.