Photopolymers for stable solar cells, sodium batteries and photoelectrochromic windows

The stability of energy devices is a critical (but often disregarded) issue, since great focus is often devoted to the efficiency records (even if these values rapidly decrease upon time). However, today's research in the energy field must be connected to concepts such as long-term stability, safety and environmental impact. In this work, we present free-radical photopolymerization as an attractive technique for the design and straightforward preparation of polymeric components for different energy devices (both storage and conversion). Photopolymerization represents a very attractive technique to this purpose, since it does not require solvents, catalysts, thermal treatments and purification steps. In the initial section, polymer electrolytes for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) are demonstrated as alternatives to the standard liquid counterparts, using cobalt complexes as redox mediator. In addition, external luminescent and light-cured coatings are developed to further increase cell durability through a combined effect of UV-cutting, down-shifting and self-cleaning. In the second section, electrolytes and light-cured protective coatings are demonstrated for the first time in photoelectrochromic devices, thus leading to smart windows with highly stable characteristics and easy to be manufactured on a large scale. Finally, we show how Na-ion polymer batteries can be considered as an emerging, green and safe solution to the large storage of the electricity produced by solar panels