A hybrid energy cell for self-powered water splitting†

Production of hydrogen (H2) by splitting water using the electrolysis effect is a potential source of clean and renewable energy. However, it usually requires an external power source to drive the oxidation or reduction reactions of H2O molecules, which largely limits the development of this technology. Here, we fabricated a hybrid energy cell that is an integration of a triboelectric nanogenerator, a thermoelectric cell, and a solar cell, which can be used to simultaneously/individually harvest mechanical, thermal, and/or solar energies. The power output of the hybrid energy cell can be directly used for splitting water without an external power source. The volume of the produced H2 has a linear relationship with the splitting time at a production speed of 4 × 10−4 mL s−1. Moreover, the produced energies can also be stored in a Li-ion battery for water splitting as well as other uses.

[1]  Caofeng Pan,et al.  Triboelectric-generator-driven pulse electrodeposition for micropatterning. , 2012, Nano letters.

[2]  Benjamin C. K. Tee,et al.  Stretchable Organic Solar Cells , 2011, Advanced materials.

[3]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Wafer-scale high-throughput ordered arrays of Si and coaxial Si/Si(1-x)Ge(x) wires: fabrication, characterization, and photovoltaic application. , 2011, ACS nano.

[4]  Michael Grätzel,et al.  Influence of plasmonic Au nanoparticles on the photoactivity of Fe₂O₃ electrodes for water splitting. , 2011, Nano letters.

[5]  Alireza Kargar,et al.  3D branched nanowire heterojunction photoelectrodes for high-efficiency solar water splitting and H2 generation. , 2012, Nanoscale.

[6]  Wei Wang,et al.  Frequency-multiplication high-output triboelectric nanogenerator for sustainably powering biomedical microsystems. , 2013, Nano letters.

[7]  Fang Qian,et al.  Nitrogen-doped ZnO nanowire arrays for photoelectrochemical water splitting. , 2009, Nano letters.

[8]  Zongfu Yu,et al.  Nanodome solar cells with efficient light management and self-cleaning. , 2010, Nano letters.

[9]  Lauryn L. Baranowski,et al.  Concentrated solar thermoelectric generators , 2012 .

[10]  S. Cronin,et al.  Plasmon resonant enhancement of photocatalytic water splitting under visible illumination. , 2011, Nano letters.

[11]  Long Lin,et al.  Self-powered magnetic sensor based on a triboelectric nanogenerator. , 2012, ACS nano.

[12]  A. Bard,et al.  Novel carbon-doped TiO2 nanotube arrays with high aspect ratios for efficient solar water splitting. , 2006, Nano letters.

[13]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Flexible triboelectric generator , 2012 .

[14]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Hybrid energy cell for degradation of methyl orange by self-powered electrocatalytic oxidation. , 2013, Nano letters.

[15]  Jean Cross,et al.  Electrostatics, Principles, Problems and Applications , 1987 .

[16]  Chen Xu,et al.  Compact Hybrid Cell Based on a Convoluted Nanowire Structure for Harvesting Solar and Mechanical Energy , 2011, Advanced materials.

[17]  N. Lewis.  Toward Cost-Effective Solar Energy Use , 2007, Science.

[18]  Chen Xu,et al.  Nanowire structured hybrid cell for concurrently scavenging solar and mechanical energies. , 2009, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[19]  Guozhong Cao,et al.  ZnO Nanostructures for Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells , 2009 .

[20]  Gang Chen,et al.  Recent advances in thermoelectric nanocomposites , 2012 .

[21]  Yan Zhang,et al.  Pyroelectric nanogenerators for driving wireless sensors. , 2012, Nano letters.