Integrated solar energy harvesting and storage devices
department or school: Applied Science, Faculty of
department or school: Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Mahmoudzadeh Ahmadi Nejad, Mohammad Ali
issued: 2015-04-20T20:53:18Z
issued: 2015
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Large scale storage of electricity is a vital requirement for the realization of a carbon-neutral electricity grid. This thesis provides a study of integrated solar energy conversion and storage systems in order to increase the efficiency and reduce the utilization cost of solar energy. The efficient performance of photogalvanic cells relies on high dye solubility and selective electrodes with fast electron transfer kinetics. A new configuration is proposed for photogalvanic cells that removes these impractical requirements. Instead of illuminating the device through the electrode a new vertical configuration is employed with light coming between the two electrodes. This way, the light absorption and hence electron generation is spread through the depth of the device which can be adjusted according to the concentration of the dyes to absorb all the incoming photons even with low solubility dyes and slow electrode kinetics. The proposed configuration is mathematically studied and a numerical model is built for detailed analysis that gives practical guidelines for working towards device parameters with high power conversion efficiency. The analysis suggests that upon the realization of highly selective electrodes and an improved dye/mediator couple, an efficiency higher than 13 % should be achievable from the new configuration compared to 3.7 % at best using the conventional approach. Storage however in this system will be challenging due to the characteristic recombination times of dyes and mediators in the same phase. For significant and long-lived storage we designed and demonstrated an integrated solar-battery structure based on two relatively well established technologies of the redox flow battery and the dye-sensitized solar cell. The cell consists of a sensitized electrode in a redox flow battery structure. The design enables independent scaling of power and energy rating of the system thus it is applicable for large scale storage purposes. An areal energy capa…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/52899
note: Integrated Electrochemical Solar Energy Harvesting andStorage DevicesbyMohammad Ali Mahmoudzadeh Ahmadi NejadM.A.Sc., The University of British Columbia, 2009B.Sc., Sharif University of Technology, 2006A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENTOF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OFDoctor of PhilosophyinTHE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES(Electrical and Computer Engineering)The University of British Columbia(Vancouver)April 2015c©Mohammad Ali Mahmoudzadeh Ahmadi Nejad, 2015AbstractLarge scale storage of electricity is a vital requirement for the realization of a carbon-neutralelectricity grid. This thesis provides a study of integrated solar energy conversion and storagesystems in order to increase the efficiency and reduce the utilization cost of solar energy. Theefficient performance of photogalvanic cells relies on high dye solubility and selective elec-trodes with fast electron transfer kinetics. A new configuration is proposed for photogalvaniccells that removes these impractical requirements. Instead of illuminating the device throughthe electrode a new vertical configuration is employed with light coming between the two elec-trodes. This way, the light absorption and hence electron generation is spread through the depthof the device which can be adjusted according to the concentration of the dyes to absorb allthe incoming photons even with low solubility dyes and slow electrode kinetics. The proposedconfiguration is mathematically studied and a numerical model is built for detailed analysis thatgives practical guidelines for working towards device parameters with high power conversionefficiency. The analysis suggests that upon the realization of highly selective electrodes and animproved dye/mediator couple, an efficiency higher than 13% should be achievable from thenew configuration compared to 3.7% at best using the conventional approach. Storage how-ever in this system will be challenging due to the characteristic recombination times of dyesand m…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2015-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0166258
language: eng
degree discipline: Electrical and Computer Engineering
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/52899