COMBINED PHOTOELECTROCHEMICAL CELL AND CAPACITOR

摘要

A nanophotocapacitive device wherein: a photovoltaic element (1) extends over substantially the whole area of the device, a charge storage element (3) also extends over substantially the whole area of the device, connection means (14) are provided for interconnecting said photovoltaic and charge storage elements, said photovoltaic element comprises a nanoparticulate dye sensitised layer (11) of wide band gap semiconductor, a catalytic layer (13) and an electrolyte (12) placed between the semiconductor and the catalytic layers. The photovoltaic (photoelectrochemical) element and charge storage element (capacitor) are formed on opposite sides of a titanium foil substrate (8). Light (16) is incident on the transparent electrode (15). A diode (2) may be integral with the device to prevent the charge storage element discharging when there is no solar energy input to the photovoltaic element.