Scientists from Ohio State University have successfully combined a battery and a solar cell into one hybrid device, or the world's first solar battery.
The design converts light to electrons inside the battery, thus improving the efficiency to around 100 percent. Usually only 80 percent electrons that emerge from a solar cell make it into the battery.
This means it has the potential to bring down the cost of solar power by 25 percent, said lead inventor, Yiying Wu, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Ohio State University, according to a university press release.
A mesh solar panel was key to the innovation, which allows air to enter the battery, and a special process for transferring electrons between the solar panel and the battery electrode.
Inside the device, light and oxygen allowed different parts of the chemical reactions that charge the battery.
Wu added that the university will license the solar battery, where it will help "tame" the coasts of renewable energy.
"The state of the art is to use a solar panel to capture the light, and then use a cheap battery to store the energy," Wu said, according to the release. "We've integrated both functions into one device. Any time you can do that, you reduce cost."
By getting rid of the loss of electricity that usually occurs when electrons have to travel between an external battery and a solar cell, the invention solves a problem in solar energy efficiency.
When the battery discharges, it chemically consumes oxygen from the air to re-form the lithium peroxide.
"Basically, it's a breathing battery," Wu said in the press release. "It breathes in air when it discharges, and breathes out when it charges."
Wu and his colleagues think the life of the battery is on par with the lifetime of rechargeable batteries already available.
They reported their research recently in the journal Nature Communications.
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