A microfluidic all-vanadium photoelectrochemical cell with a full-spectrum-responsive Ti2O3 photoanode for efficient solar energy storage

The all-vanadium photoelectrochemical cell is one of the promising solar energy storage technologies. However, conventional photoanodes surfer from low solar energy utilization efficiency as a result of narrow spectrum response and poor mass transfer. Hence, in this study, a microfluidic all-vanadium photoelectrochemical cell with a full-spectrum-responsive Ti2O3 photoanode was proposed for efficient solar energy storage. Experimental results indicated that the Ti2O3 photoanode responded to almost the full spectrum of sunlight and exhibited excellent photoresponse and operation stability, which facilitated efficient solar energy utilization. Additionally, the effects of the light intensity, vanadium ion concentration, and electrolyte flow rate were studied. It was found that increasing the light intensity and vanadium ion concentration and reducing the electrolyte flow rate promoted photoelectrochemical reactions and thus improved the solar energy storage performance. The obtained results demonstrate the feasibility and superiority of using Ti2O3 as the photoanode for a photoelectrochemical cell to achieve efficient solar energy storage.