Dye-sensitized Solar Cells under Ambient Light: Powering Autonomous Smart Sensors for the Internet of Things
Hannes Michaels a, Michael Rinderle b, Richard Freitag a, Iacopo Benesperi a, Tomas Edvinsson a, Alessio Gagliardi b, Marina Freitag a c
a Uppsala University, Ångström Laboratory, Sweden, Lägerhyddsvägen, 1, Uppsala, Sweden
b Technical University of Munich, Garching b. München, Germany
c School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, UK, Newcastle upon Tyne, Reino Unido, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
Proceedings of Online International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (OnlineHOPV20)
Online, Spain, 2020 May 26th - 29th
Organizers: Tracey Clarke, James Durrant, Annamaria Petrozza and Trystan Watson
Poster, Hannes Michaels, 007
Publication date: 22nd May 2020
ePoster: 

The field of photovoltaics gives the opportunity to make our buildings ‘‘smart’’ and our portable devices “independent”, provided effective energy sources can be developed for use in ambient indoor conditions. To address this issue, ambient light photovoltaic cells were developed to power autonomous Internet of Things (IoT) devices, capable of machine learning, allowing the on-device implementation of artificial intelligence. Through a novel co-sensitization strategy, we tailored dye-sensitized photovoltaic cells based on a copper (II/I) electrolyte for the generation of power under ambient lighting with a conversion efficiencies of 34%, 103 mW cm‑2 at 1000 lux; 32.7%, 50 mW cm‑2 at 500 lux and 31.4%, 19 mW cm‑2 at 200 lux (fluorescent lamp). A small array of DSCs with a joint active area of 16 cm2 was then used to power machine learning on wireless nodes. The collection of 0.947 mJ or 2.72∙1015 photons is needed to compute one inference of a pre-trained artificial neural network for MNIST image classification in the employed set up. 152 J or 4.41∙1020 photons required for training and verification of an artificial neural network were harvested with 64 cm2 photovoltaic area in less than 24 hours under 1000 lux illumination. Ambient light harvesters provide a new generation of self-powered and “smart” IoT devices powered through an energy source that is largely untapped.

We acknowledge experimental assistance by Dr. Leif Häggman and Zackary Ashworth. We would also like to thank Dr. Wolfgang Tress and Dr. Miles Dyson and for inspiration and guidance.

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