Combined photoelectrochemical cell and capacitor

Abstract

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 mechanism (14) are provided for interconnecting the photovoltaic and charge storage elements, the photovoltaic element comprises a nanoparticulate dye sensitized 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.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.