Voltage-Tunable, All-Day Portable Power Supplies Based on Monolithic Integrated Silicon Photovoltaic Modules and Bipolar Lithium-Ion Batteries

Coupling solar cells with energy storage devices promises to overcome longstanding issues on intermittency and longevity of the individual systems. To enable practical/versatile applications of the coupled power sources, their operating voltages should be widened and customized to the specific purpose. Here, we demonstrate for the first time a new class of voltage-tunable, all-day portable power supplies based on the monolithic integration of interdigitated back contact-structured crystalline silicon photovoltaic (cSiPV) modules and printed bipolar all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries (bASSBs). The voltages of the cSiPV and bASSB are respectively varied and also matched to widen operating voltage window (2.7 − 13.5 V) of the cSiPV–bASSB. Moreover, the cSiPV–bASSB achieves high overall efficiency (10.2%) and stable photo-rechargeable cyclability, which far exceed those of previously reported PV–battery systems. The cSiPV–bASSB is seamlessly unitized with various electronic devices and exhibits sustainable long-time operation under variable weather conditions.