The development of devices with dual solar energy-harvesting and storage functionalities has recently gained significant traction for off-grid power supply. In their most compact embodiment, these devices rely on the same electrode to harvest and store energy; however, in this approach, the development of energy-efficient photoelectrodes with intrinsic characteristics of good optical and electrochemical activities remains challenging. Here, we propose photoelectrodes with a porous carbon coated on a zinc oxide-cadmium sulfide heterostructure as an energy-efficient photocathode for photo-accelerated zinc ion capacitors (Photo-ZICs). The Photo-ZICs harvest light energy and store charge simultaneously, resulting in efficient charge storage performance under illumination compared to dark conditions (∼99% capacity enhancement at 500 mA g-1 under illumination compared to dark conditions). The light absorption ability and charge separation efficiency achieved by the photocathodes meet the requirements for photo-ZIC applications. Moreover, Photo-ZICs display stable charge storage capacities over long-term cycling, that is, ∼1% capacity loss after 10,000 cycles.
Keywords: heterostructure; light−matter interaction; photocathodes; porous carbon; zinc ion capacitors.