14.1% Efficient Monolithically Integrated SolarFlow Battery

Challenges posed by the intermittency of solar energy source necessitate theintegration of solar energy conversion with scalable energy storage systems.The monolithic integration of photoelectrochemical solar energy conversionand electrochemical energy storage offers an efficient and compact approachtoward practical solar energy utilization. Here, we present the design principlesfor and the demonstration of a highly efficient integrated solar flow battery(SFB) device with a record solar-to-output electricity efficiency of 14.1%. SuchSFB devices can be configured to perform all the requisite functions from solarenergy harvest to electricity redeliverywithout external bias. Capitalizing onhigh-efficiency and high-photovoltage tandem III-V photoelectrodes that areproperly matched with high-cell-voltage redox flow batteries and carefully de-signed flow field architecture, we reveal the general design principles for effi-cient SFBs. These results will enable a highly efficient approach for practicaloff-grid solar utilization and electrification.

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