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      Regenerable Photovoltaic Devices with a Hydrogel-Embedded Microvascular Network

      research-article
      Author(s): 1 , 2 , a , 1
      Publication date (Electronic):
      Journal: Scientific Reports
      Publisher: Nature Publishing Group

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          Abstract

          Light-driven degradation of photoactive molecules could be one of the major obstacles to stable long term operation of organic dye-based solar light harvesting devices. One solution to this problem may be mimicking the regeneration functionality of a plant leaf. We report an organic dye photovoltaic system that has been endowed with such microfluidic regeneration functionality. A hydrogel medium with embedded channels allows rapid and uniform supply of photoactive reagents by a convection-diffusion mechanism. A washing-activation cycle enables reliable replacement of the organic component in a dye-sensitized photovoltaic system. Repetitive restoration of photovoltaic performance after intensive device degradation is demonstrated.

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          Hierarchical nanostructured conducting polymer hydrogel with high electrochemical activity.

          Lijia Pan, Guihua Yu, Dongyuan Zhai … (2012)
          Conducting polymer hydrogels represent a unique class of materials that synergizes the advantageous features of hydrogels and organic conductors and have been used in many applications such as bioelectronics and energy storage devices. They are often synthesized by polymerizing conductive polymer monomer within a nonconducting hydrogel matrix, resulting in deterioration of their electrical properties. Here, we report a scalable and versatile synthesis of multifunctional polyaniline (PAni) hydrogel with excellent electronic conductivity and electrochemical properties. With high surface area and three-dimensional porous nanostructures, the PAni hydrogels demonstrated potential as high-performance supercapacitor electrodes with high specific capacitance (~480 F·g(-1)), unprecedented rate capability, and cycling stability (~83% capacitance retention after 10,000 cycles). The PAni hydrogels can also function as the active component of glucose oxidase sensors with fast response time (~0.3 s) and superior sensitivity (~16.7 μA · mM(-1)). The scalable synthesis and excellent electrode performance of the PAni hydrogel make it an attractive candidate for bioelectronics and future-generation energy storage electrodes.
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            Conversion of sunlight to electric power by nanocrystalline dye-sensitized solar cells

            Michael Grätzel (2004)
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              The transpiration of water at negative pressures in a synthetic tree.

              Tobias Wheeler, Abraham Stroock (2008)
              Plant scientists believe that transpiration-the motion of water from the soil, through a vascular plant, and into the air-occurs by a passive, wicking mechanism. This mechanism is described by the cohesion-tension theory: loss of water by evaporation reduces the pressure of the liquid water within the leaf relative to atmospheric pressure; this reduced pressure pulls liquid water out of the soil and up the xylem to maintain hydration. Strikingly, the absolute pressure of the water within the xylem is often negative, such that the liquid is under tension and is thermodynamically metastable with respect to the vapour phase. Qualitatively, this mechanism is the same as that which drives fluid through the synthetic wicks that are key elements in technologies for heat transfer, fuel cells and portable chemical systems. Quantitatively, the differences in pressure generated in plants to drive flow can be more than a hundredfold larger than those generated in synthetic wicks. Here we present the design and operation of a microfluidic system formed in a synthetic hydrogel. This synthetic 'tree' captures the main attributes of transpiration in plants: transduction of subsaturation in the vapour phase of water into negative pressures in the liquid phase, stabilization and flow of liquid water at large negative pressures (-1.0 MPa or lower), continuous heat transfer with the evaporation of liquid water at negative pressure, and continuous extraction of liquid water from subsaturated sources. This development opens the opportunity for technological uses of water under tension and for new experimental studies of the liquid state of water.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Sci Rep
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Sci Rep
                Title: Scientific Reports
                Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
                ISSN (Electronic): 2045-2322
                Publication date (Electronic): 05 August 2013
                Publication date Collection: 2013
                Volume: 3
                Electronic Location Identifier: 2357
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, North Carolina State University , Raleigh, NC 27695-7905, USA
                [2 ]Current address: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801-2325, USA.
                Author notes
                Article
                Publisher Item ID: srep02357
                DOI: 10.1038/srep02357
                PMC ID: 3733051
                PubMed ID: 23912814
                SO-VID: 81ef18cd-c361-415f-a100-76491837c848
                Copyright © Copyright © 2013, Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved
                License:

                This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

                History
                Date received : 11 June 2013
                Date accepted : 17 July 2013
                Categories
                Subject: Article

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