A light-rechargeable battery for autonomous IoT devices

Objective

The need to power batteries in remote areas off-grid as well as the rapid development of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensor networks, which rely on rechargeable batteries to operate, are increasing the demand to find new solutions to couple energy harvesting systems with energy storage. In the case of the IoT platforms, charging and replacing batteries usually lead to an increased power consumption and disturbance of the data transfer. SolBat proof-of-concept aims at demonstrating a light-rechargeable battery to power a wide range of IoT sensors. The battery is miniaturized and rechargeable upon light illumination (indoor and outdoor) without an external voltage or current applied, enabling a reliable real-time continuous sensing and off-grid energy autonomy. The goal is to demonstrate powering different commercial IoT sensors by a miniaturized light-rechargeable battery and to outline a commercialization strategy for this technology.