PFI-TT: Prototype Development of Portable Rechargeable Solar Batteries

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is to fill the emergent need for solar energy storage and develop a prototype of portable rechargeable solar battery. With the rising market penetration of solar energy, there is a growing need for solar-storage devices. However, currently available products in the market only offer separate solutions for solar energy generation and storage. They normally consist of a simple addition of a solar cell to a storage device with required wiring and power control systems; therefore, they are not only expensive and bulky, but also missing opportunities to increase performance by being integrated. This portable rechargeable solar battery technology is important since it integrates solar power and electricity storage in a single device and fully eliminates batteries. The proposed technology, if successful, will provide a cost-effective solar energy storage solution, where solar energy will be directly stored in the form of chemical energy without the unnecessary intermediate step such as conversion to electricity. This project can also create greater value to participants (postdocs, graduate students working on this project) and generate a pipeline of well-trained workforce with enhanced practice in the development of entrepreneurship and leadership. The proposed project introduces a new design principle for solar energy conversion using redox couples and visible-light-sensitive materials to directly convert and store solar energy into chemical energy at the liquid junction interface. This proposed technology centers on dual-function redox couples as both charge transfer materials and energy storage media in a portable rechargeable solar cell, which simultaneously generates and stores electricity under light illumination, and discharges when needed. In this project, the automatic photocharge and discharge that are regulated by the energetics at the liquid junction interface will be investigated and utilized as a unique controller-free and switch-free feature which is ideal for portable devices. Off-the-shelf materials will be studied to achieve an energy compatibility between the photo-conversion and storage processes in a single device. The proposed research will result in a prototype with integration of solar electricity and energy storage that could simplify operation and improve cell reliability, as compared to the leading products in these market segments as well as other applications such as off-grid fixed systems in infrastructure-poor places.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.