Is it a solar cell? Is it a battery? No, it's a solar battery!

[WhiteTara]

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/17184/20141004/is-it-a-solar-cell-is-it-a-battery-no-its-a-solar-battery.htm

A key problem with solar power is that a significant amount of energy is lost when the electrons move from the solar panel to the battery that stores the energy. A group of researchers from The Ohio State University (OSU) has fortunately come up with a first of its kind solar battery that can both capture and store the sun's energy.

Reporting their innovation in "Integrating a redox-coupled dye-sensitized photoelectrode into a lithium-oxygen battery for photoassisted charging", which was published in the journal Nature Communications on Oct. 3, OSU chemistry and biochemistry professor Yiying Wu and colleagues said that they have successfully fused solar cell and a battery into one hybrid device using mesh solar panels and a process that facilitates the transfer of electrons between the solar panel and the the battery.

The team has come up with a solution for the loss of up to 20 percent of energy when electrons are transferred from the solar cells to a separate battery unit by fusing the battery right into the panel. The technology allows sunlight to be converted into electrons inside the battery saving almost 100 percent of the electrons and solving a problem with solar energy efficiency wherein only 80 percent of the electrons from the solar cells get into the battery for storage.

The new hybrid device runs on light and oxygen and traps electricity using a simple chemical reaction. Electrons are produced when light from the sun hits the mesh solar panel. The electrons inside the battery then get involved when lithium peroxide decomposes into lithium ions and oxygen. While the oxygen is released into the air, the lithium ions get stored in the battery as lithium metal.

snip
OSU is set to license the solar battery.

[valerief]

1. How come I have to put batteries in my remote? Why can't it work like

my old solar calculator?

[Nihil]

4. Hmmm ...

> How come I have to put batteries in my remote?
> Why can't it work like my old solar calculator?

My initial thought was that the remote would have too high a power drain
due to the IR transmitter but then, thinking about it, the electronics in
that shouldn't need much power and even that is intermittent.

I think you've just hit a curiosity bump that might just drive my poor
patient wife witless when I manage to unearth a suitable PV cell and
start to play with the TV remote!

[valerief]

6. Ha! Enjoy! I still hate batteries. nt

[rhett o rick]

2. Is it cost effective? nm

[packman]

3. I invented a solar powered sun tanning lamp

[madokie]

5. I have one that is automatic

for some reason every clear day it comes on around day break and stays on until right before it gets dark. Moves from one side to the other so all you have to do is roll over from your front down to on your back once in a while to get a good even tan. works pretty good too. I'll get as dark as an American Indian by the time fall gets here. Sometimes I'll just putter around the yard and it works pretty good then too. Oh the best part is its cheap to operate