All-vanadium redox photoelectrochemical cell: An approach to store solar energy

A highly-efficient all-vanadium photoelectrochemical storage cell has been demonstrated in this work. This storage cell takes advantage of fast electrochemical kinetics of vanadium redox couples of VO2+VO2+ and V3+/V2+, and appears as a promising alternative to photoproduction of hydrogen from water. Continuous photocharging for 25 h revealed a VO2+ conversion rate of 0.0042 mu mol/h and Faradaic efficiency of 95% without external voltage bias. The incident photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) at 350 nm light was calculated to be similar to 12%. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.