An Indoor Light-Powered Sensor System Integrated with Organic Photovoltaics

Abstract

Energy harvesting systems are attracting significant attention as a new power-supply technology to overcome the limitations of internet of things (IoT) devices usually established in an indoor environment such as power consumption, size, and usage time. Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) with high absorption coefficients at indoor light wavelengths are a promising energy source for the IoT-based sensors. However, OPVs in sensor platforms are not well addressed because of their insufficient and inconsistent power supply under indoor circumstance. Herein, a self-powered sensor system that combines highlyefficient indoor OPV modules with a boost converter for real-time temperature measurements is demonstrated. The OPV module with a ternary blend is devised to achieve suitable morphology for low-intensity indoor operation resulting in high efficiency and stability under 1000 lux 3000 K light-emitting diode illumination. Moreover, the voltage of the OPV modules is effectively boosted through an optimized converter to adequately operate the sensor platform. The sensor system integrated with the OPV modules and boost converter successfully measures the real-time changes in temperature in indoor environments. This study proposes an ideal self-powered sensor platform that can be used in smart-home systems using indoor lighting.