PFI-TT: Prototype Development of Portable Rechargeable Solar Batteries

该创新-技术转化伙伴关系（PFI-TT）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是满足对太阳能存储的紧急需求，并开发便携式可充电太阳能电池原型。随着太阳能市场渗透率的提高，对太阳能存储设备的需求也越来越大。然而，目前市场上可用的产品仅为太阳能发电和存储提供单独的解决方案。它们通常包括将太阳能电池简单地添加到具有所需布线和功率控制系统的存储设备;因此，它们不仅昂贵且笨重，而且还错过了通过集成来提高性能的机会。这种便携式可充电太阳能电池技术非常重要，因为它将太阳能和电力存储集成在一个设备中，完全消除了电池。这项技术如果成功，将提供一种具有成本效益的太阳能存储解决方案，其中太阳能将以化学能的形式直接存储，而无需不必要的中间步骤，如转换为电力。该项目还可以为参与者（从事该项目的博士后和研究生）创造更大的价值，并产生一批训练有素的劳动力，在培养创业精神和领导力方面加强实践。拟议项目引入了一种新的太阳能转换设计原理，利用氧化还原电对和可见光敏感材料，在液体交界面直接将太阳能转换为化学能并储存。该技术以双功能氧化还原电对为中心，作为便携式可充电太阳能电池中的电荷转移材料和能量存储介质，该电池在光照下同时产生和存储电力，并在需要时放电。在这个项目中，自动光充电和放电，在液体接界界面的能量调节将被调查和利用作为一个独特的无污染和无开关的功能，这是理想的便携式设备。将研究现成的材料，以在单个设备中实现光转换和存储过程之间的能量兼容性。拟议的研究将产生一个集成太阳能电力和储能的原型，可以简化操作并提高电池的可靠性，与这些细分市场的领先产品以及基础设施中的离网固定系统等其他应用相比，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值进行评估，更广泛的影响审查标准。

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.