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Photoinduced Oxygen Reduction Reaction Boosts the Output Voltage of a Zinc–Air Battery
Author(s) -
Zhu Dongdong,
Zhao Qiancheng,
Fan Guilan,
Zhao Shuo,
Wang Liubin,
Li Fujun,
Chen Jun
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201905954
Subject(s) - battery (electricity) , anode , zinc , voltage , semiconductor , cathode , photochemistry , chemistry , materials science , energy storage , optoelectronics , electrode , electrical engineering , physics , power (physics) , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , engineering
Utilization of solar energy is of great interest for a sustainable society, and its conversion into electricity in a compact battery is challenging. Herein, a zinc–air battery with the polymer semiconductor polytrithiophene (pTTh) as the cathode is reported for direct conversion of photoenergy into electric energy. Upon irradiation, photoelectrons are generated in the conduction band (CB) of pTTh and then injected into the π 2p * orbitals of O 2 for its reduction to HO 2 − , which is disproportionated to OH − and drives the oxidation of Zn to ZnO at the anode. The discharge voltage was significantly increased to 1.78 V without decay during discharge–charge cycles over 64 h, which corresponds to an energy density increase of 29.0 % as compared to 1.38 V for a zinc–air battery with state‐of‐the‐art Pt/C. The zinc–air battery with an intrinsically different reaction scheme for simultaneous conversion of chemical and photoenergy into electric energy opens a new pathway for utilization of solar energy.