A first-of-its-kind solar CO₂ flow cell electrolyzer is reported here with a solar-to-fuel efficiency (SFE) of 6.5% at high operating currents (>1 A), orders of magnitude greater than those of other reported solar-driven devices that typically operate at currents of a few milliamperes. The approach of solar module-driven electrolysis, compared to monolithic photoelectrochemical cells, allows simpler manufacture, use of commercially available components, and optimization of the power transfer between the photovoltaic and the electrochemical systems. Employing commercial high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells with a large area flow cell CO₂ electrolyzer (25 cm²), we present a procedure for optimizing the SFE of a decoupled photovoltaic electrolyzer by impedance matching the source and the load using their independent current–voltage characteristics. The importance of the voltage-dependent Faradaic efficiency of the electrolyzer on device performance and optimization is highlighted.

中文翻译：

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面向实用的太阳能驱动的CO ₂流通池电解器：设计和优化

据报道，这是首例同类太阳能CO ₂流通池电解槽，在高工作电流（> 1 A）时，太阳能转化率（SFE）为6.5％，比其他报道的方法大几个数量级通常在几毫安电流下工作的太阳能驱动设备。与整体式光电化学电池相比，太阳能模块驱动的电解方法可简化制造，使用市售组件并优化光伏系统与电化学系统之间的功率传输。使用具有大面积流通池CO ₂电解槽（25 cm ^2）的商业高效晶体硅太阳能电池），我们提出了一种程序，通过使用独立的电流-电压特性对源和负载进行阻抗匹配来优化去耦光伏电解器的SFE。强调了电压依赖性法拉第效率对设备性能和优化的重要性。