A photovoltaic stand-alone lighting system with polymeric-silica-gel-electrolyte-based substrate-integrated lead-carbon hybrid ultracapacitors

Abstract Harnessing solar electricity generated through photovoltaic cells with lead-acid batteries remains the most compelling option at present. But lead-acid batteries have encountered problems in photovoltaic installations, mainly due to their premature failure. To circumvent the aforesaid problem, a new technology referred to as substrate-integrated lead-carbon hybrid ultracapacitor with polymeric-silica-gel electrolyte, is developed inhouse and tested for solar-electricity storage for a lighting application. The high-throughput performance tests for the device are conducted at laboratory scale and compatibility of the device for photovoltaic application is evaluated. In doing so, the device is installed with a photovoltaic panel for field test and data are collected from August 2012 through July 2013. The year round field-test data analyzed in the light of the available global-horizontalirradiance data show attractive performance for the device. It is noteworthy that, unlike lead-acid batteries, seasonal variations in solar radiance exhibit little effect on the performance of the device.