Due to the intermittent nature of solar energy availability, often an energy storage element such as a battery or supercapacitor is required to store the energy from a solar cell. The combination of a separate solar cell and an energy storage device is not usually suitable for small and compact electronic circuits with small footprints. Although various hybrid solar cell-supercapacitor devices have been studied before, the majority of them are two cells in one package with one electrode being shared between the two cells. We have designed and studied a new class of two-terminal hybrid electrochemical cells made of conducting polymer (e.g., polyaniline) composites with porous electrodes. In one design, a polymer film with embedded dye molecules has been used as a photoactive electrode in a supercapacitor presenting open circuit voltage changes up to 430 mV under illumination. In another design, the conducting polymer was employed in the electrolyte of the cell making a supercapacitor with the capability of harvesting light through the electrolyte. Voltages as high as 138 mV were achieved in the new device. Due to the storage property, the voltage drop 10 min after the secession of light was ~15 mV. While the fabrication of devices with the photoactive gel is easier, the higher efficiency in thin-film devices is more promising. Further development of two-terminal hybrid cells can open doors for designing compact and self-powered wireless sensors for various applications, including wearable electronics.
In recent years, the interest in photovoltaic supercapacitors has been increasing in order to develop self-powered sensors for a sustainable system. Hence, significant research efforts are needed to enhance the photoelectric and electrochemical performances of hybrid devices. Herein, we have studied the effect of the porosity of different counter electrodes on the performance of the hybrid photovoltaic supercapacitors. The photovoltaic supercapacitors were fabricated in one package with a simple structure including a titanium dioxide (TiO2) coated on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass as a working electrode and polyaniline (PANI)-based gel electrolyte. The performance of the hybrid device was studied with four different counter electrodes: a multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) porous electrode, PEDOT:PSS coated on FTO glass, carbon monolithic electrode, and a carbon-based conductive fabric. The specific capacitance of the device with PEDOT:PSS coated FTO electrode was 255 mF/g in the dark and increased to be 274 mF/g under the light based on the mass of the gel. The hybrid device can be charged when the working electrode is illuminated. The variation in the open circuit voltage (DV) was reached 256 mV in 400 s under illumination, and the voltage drop was 4 mV (−4%) in 600 s of the dark. The current results of the hybrid photovoltaic supercapacitor, with a simple fabrication process and basic structure, are boosting the study for the electrode materials selection to enhance the performance of the hybrid device.
The integration of energy-harvesting and storage in a single device is considered to be one of the most demanding technologies for future wireless sensors. Photovoltaic supercapacitors are among promising solutions with the dual properties of photoelectric and electrochemical charge storage. In order to improve the efficiency in hybrid photovoltaic supercapacitors, most research has focused on studying electrode materials. In this work, we have studied the effect of polyaniline (PANI) concentration in a composite gel-based electrolyte on the impedance of the device. The photovoltaic supercapacitors were fabricated in a two-electrode configuration combining a titanium dioxide (TiO2) coated on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass as the working electrode, a multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) porous electrode as the counter electrode, and a composite gel-based electrolyte. The composite gel was made of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), hydrochloric acid (HCl), ammonium persulfate (APS), and different concentrations of aniline (ANI). The impedance study of the gel with 0.5 mM concentration of PANI showed a two-stage charge storage mechanism associated to the double-layer at the electrode-electrolyte interface and a pseudo-capacitive charge storage mechanism in the bulk of the electrolyte. The absorption spectrum of the synthesized gel shows a strong absorption peak near 780 nm confirming the formation of the emeraldine salt of PANI in the gel. The current results are inspiring the research for optimizing the composite material to improve both energy harvesting and the charge storage stability in photovoltaic supercapacitors.
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