The use of solar energy, an important green energy source, is extremely attractive for future energy storage. Recently, intensive efforts are dedicated to photo-assisted rechargeable battery devices as they can directly convert and store solar energy efficiently and thus provide a potential way to utilize sunlight on a large scale.
Can photo-assisted batteries be used for solar energy storage?
Photo-assisted batteries can augment the electrochemical capability of rechargeable batteries and provide a novel approach for solar energy storage. Different from conventional energy storage devices, photo-assisted batteries convert solar energy into electrical energy directly and store it as chemical energy.
Can photo-assisted rechargeable metal batteries save energy?
The working features of the integrated devices are also discussed for energy saving under photo-assisted charging mode. Finally, a future outlook is provided for further improving the performance of photo-assisted rechargeable metal batteries.
Can solar cells and rechargeable metal batteries be used for photo-assisted rechargeable batteries?
The combination of solar cells and rechargeable metal batteries brings a new opportunity for the development of photo-assisted rechargeable batteries, in which the solar energy can be utilized to partially achieve photo-charging with or without external electrical bias.
A photo-assisted rechargeable battery typically comprises two parts: one for solar energy capture and conversion, and the other for energy storage. In the early stages, photo-assisted battery often consisted of a photovoltaic device and an energy storage battery connected by metal wires.
Recently, photo-assisted energy storage devices, especially photo-assisted rechargeable metal batteries, are rapidly developed owing to the ability to efficiently convert and store solar energy and the simple configuration, as well as the fact that conventional Li/Zn-ion batteries are widely commercialized.
After the detailed demonstration of the state-of-the-art photo-assisted rechargeable battery examples, the bottleneck of such photo-assisted rechargeable batteries is discussed and future challenges and prospects of photo-assisted rechargeable batteries are proposed.