IoT could go green with large-area electronic technologies

The IoT connects and facilitates data exchange between numerous devices - such as remote-controlled home security systems, self-driving cars equipped with sensors that detect obstacles, and temperature-controlled factory equipment - over the internet and other sensing and communications networks.

Current approaches used to power sensor nodes rely on battery technology, but wirelessly powered sensor nodes could help achieve a sustainable IoT by drawing energy from the environment using energy harvesters, such as photovoltaic cells and radio-frequency (RF) energy harvesters, among other technologies. Large-area electronics could be key in enabling these power sources, the study published in Nature Electronics suggests.

KAUST alumni Kalaivanan Loganathan, with Thomas Anthopoulos and colleagues, assessed the viability of various large-area electronic technologies and their potential to deliver ecofriendly, wirelessly powered IoT sensors.

Large-area electronics have recently emerged as an alternative to conventional silicon-based technologies due to progress in solution-based processing, which has made devices and circuits easier to print on flexible, large-area substrates. They can be produced at low temperatures and on biodegradable substrates such as paper, which makes them more ecofriendly than their silicon-based counterparts.

Anthopoulos’ team has developed a range of RF electronic components, including metal-oxide and organic polymer-based semiconductor devices.

“These devices are crucial components in wireless energy harvesters and ultimately dictate the performance and cost of the sensor nodes,” Loganathan said in a statement.

Contributions from the KAUST team include scalable methods for manufacturing RF diodes to harvest energy reaching the 5G/6G frequency range.

“Such technologies provide the needed building blocks toward a more sustainable way to power the billions of sensor nodes in the near future,” said Anthopoulos.

The team is investigating the monolithic integration of these low-power devices with antenna and sensors to showcase their potential, Loganathan added.