I-Corps: Solar Cell for Simultaneous Electricity Generation and Storage

University Of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell MA

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact of this I-Corps project includes exploring the commercial potential of a novel solar cell for simultaneous electricity storage and generation. The technology may also enable long-term sustainability of the nation's energy resources. The proposed technology applies recent advances in photoelectrochemical cells and high-capacity photochromic materials to solar cells that could potentially enable all-day solar power. The proposed customer-discovery efforts will lead to expanded technical capacity of the developed technology. Commercializing this technology is expected to enable both overall energy load management and shorter term bridging power of solar cells, and address the growing need for daily renewable energy supply with the expanding penetration of solar energy into the U.S. If successful, this will also minimize the need to build and operate spinning-reserve power plants, a method employed today to close the gaps between power consumption and generation. This I-Corps project explores commercial application opportunities for next-generation solar cells with integrated storage capability. Currently, most solar batteries are simply a physical addition of a storage device such as a battery or supercapacitor to a solar cell. Such construction involves complicated cell architectures and control processes, and can be prohibitively expensive. To circumvent the problems with the current state-of-the-art in solar energy storage, this proposed technology centers on a dual-function electrode on a photoelectrochemical cell construction, which simultaneously generates and stores electricity during the day, and discharge at night. Differentiators include: simple construction resulting in lower fabrication and maintenance costs, easy scalability and market penetration since the modular panel design is compatible with the existing PV infrastructure; low maintenance because at night or under low-light conditions the discharge is automatically activated.