Fully solar-powered photoelectrochemical conversion for simultaneous energy storage and chemical sensing.
We report the development of a multifunctional, solar-powered photoelectrochemical (PEC)-pseudocapacitive-sensing material system for simultaneous solar energy conversion, electrochemical energy storage, and chemical detection. The TiO2 nanowire/NiO nanoflakes and the Si nanowire/Pt nanoparticle composites are used as photoanodes and photocathodes, respectively. A stable open-circuit voltage of ∼0.45 V and a high pseudocapacitance of up to ∼455 F g(-1) are obtained, which also exhibit a repeating charging-discharging capability. The PEC-pseudocapacitive device is fully solar powered, without the need of any external power supply. Moreover, this TiO2 nanowire/NiO nanoflake composite photoanode exhibits excellent glucose sensitivity and selectivity. Under the sun light illumination, the PEC photocurrent shows a sensitive increase upon different glucose additions. Meanwhile in the dark, the open-circuit voltage of the charged pseudocapacitor also exhibits a corresponding signal over glucose analyte, thus serving as a full solar-powered energy conversion-storage-utilization system.
Laboratory of Advanced Materials, Department of Chemistry, Fudan University , Shanghai, 200433, People's Republic of China.
Yongcheng
Y
Wang
Jing
J
Tang
Zheng
Z
Peng
Yuhang
Y
Wang
Dingsi
D
Jia
Biao
B
Kong
Ahmed A
AA
Elzatahry
Dongyuan
D
Zhao
Gengfeng
G
Zheng