Japanese scientists develop solar cell with integrated capacitor

In my continual search to answer TangoMan's concerns about storage costs
for ground-based PV energy:

http://www.platinum.matthey.com/media_room/1099587603.html

> Japanese scientists say they have developed a platinum-based
> application capable of converting solar energy into an electrical
> charge that can be stored.
>
> Tsutomu Miyasaka and Takurou Murakami at Toin University in Yokohama
> say that the ability to store the charge could prove useful for
> powering mobile phones and other hand-held devices.
>
> The device is, essentially, two electrodes separated by a resin film.
> One electrode is a light-absorbing titanium photoelectrode, with the
> other made of platinum coated glass.
>
> Each electrode has a porous layer of activated carbon, which is
> filled with an ionic solution.
>
> The result is a capacitor with a 0.64 square centimetres
> light-sensitive area, with photoreceptor dye molecules on the surface
> of the titanium dioxide layer collecting photons.
>
> These dye molecules then react to light, with electrons transferred
> to the conducting band in the titanium dioxide layer, thus producing
> a current.
>
> Miyasaka told PhysicsWeb that the photocapacitor is "twice as
> efficient as traditional silicon-based solar cells in utilising weak
> light".
>
> "This means that it can utilise indirect sunlight, for example on
> cloudy or rainy days, and even indoor light. Moreover, it can release
> electrical energy anytime, even in the dark."
>
> Now the team are seeking to increase the charging voltage and the
> charge-discharge capacity to an industrial level.

Not ready for prime time -- but it is a proof of concept of an
integrated energy storage and capture systems. Probably expensive if it
uses platinum, but the beginning of the idea is there.

(Anyway, just looking around for some good news these days.)

--Paul Fernhout