Underexplored Dimensions of Emerging Indoor Photovoltaics

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Energy Harvesting
• Sustainable Technology

Background:

• Disposable batteries in Internet of Things (IoT) devices contribute to electronic waste.
• Current evaluations of indoor photovoltaics (IPVs) often use idealized conditions, not reflecting real-world performance.
• There is a need for robust IPV systems that can operate reliably in diverse indoor environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a deployment-centered approach for evaluating and integrating indoor photovoltaics (IPVs) for IoT applications.
• To develop realistic testing methodologies and intelligent design rules for battery-free IoT nodes.
• To enable scalable, low-maintenance, and sustainable IoT solutions.

Main Methods:

• Realistic testing under mixed/hybrid lighting (daylight + artificial).
• Intelligent integration of absorber bandgap, cell configuration, fill factor, and power management with device workloads.
• IoT-ready stability assessment under realistic indoor scenes and light/dark cycles.
• Development of a field-to-lab pipeline and voltage-matching design rules.
• Utilization of photon-to-compute metrics for linking harvested power to on-device functions.

Main Results:

• A framework for evaluating IPVs under realistic indoor conditions was established.
• Design rules for voltage matching were derived, optimizing energy harvesting for specific workloads.
• Photon-to-compute metrics were introduced to quantify the performance of battery-free IoT nodes.
• The proposed approach facilitates the development of reliable, self-powered IoT devices.

Conclusions:

• A deployment-centered approach enhances the reliability and scalability of indoor photovoltaics for IoT.
• Intelligent integration and realistic testing are crucial for achieving battery-free, low-maintenance IoT nodes.
• This research contributes to reducing electronic waste by enabling sustainable power solutions for ubiquitous computing applications.