Silicon-based hybrid energy cell for self-powered electrodegradation and personal electronics

Silicon (Si)-based solar cell is by far the most established solar cell technology. The surface of a Si solar cell is usually covered by a layer of transparent material to protect the device from corrosion, contamination and mechanical damage. Here, we replaced this protection layer by a thin layer film of polydimethysiloxane nanowires. Based on this layer and using the conductive layer on the surface of the wavy Si, we have fabricated a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). The solar cell and the TENG form a hybrid energy cell for simultaneously harvesting solar and mechanical energies. The hybrid energy cell can be directly used for self-powered electrodegradation of rhodamine B, where the degradation percentage is up to 98% in 10 min. Moreover, the produced energy can also be stored in the Li-ion batteries for driving some personal electronics such as a red laser diode and a commercial cell phone.