New photo-charging efficiency record

Dr. Dowon Bae and MECS researchers now developed a fully unbiased solar-rechargeable redox flow battery with a record-breaking efficiency of 9.44%, which is the highest among the redox flow batteries with single-photon-device.

Solar redox flow batteries have been investigated actively as a mean of simultaneous solar energy storing into chemicals, which can be readily utilised to generate electricity via reversible reactions. However, the low energy conversion efficiency is still the main challenge in the field. Dr. Dowon Bae and researchers of MECS group now developed a fully unbiased solar-rechargeable redox flow battery with an efficiency of 9.44%, which is the highest record among the redox flow batteries with single-photon-device.

In a recently published paper in Communications Materials (DOI: 10.1038/s43246-020-0020-7), the researchers describe how they achieved this record-breaking result. Optimization of the interfaces within the device and precise control of the catalyst coverage at the surface were the key features of this monumental result. The behind story of the paper is also available at Nature Research Device and Materials Engineering Community web-post (https://go.nature.com/2UujCzT).