Photocapacitors for Ambient Energy Applications

智能无线设备正在迅速发展成为我们世界许多方面不可或缺的助手。无线传感器网络与机器学习相结合，将推动智能家居、办公室、城市和工厂的信息交换。到2030年，预计将安装300亿个物联网设备，其中绝大多数将放置在室内或漫光条件下。物联网设备和无线传感器节点（WSN）将需要从环境中收集能量，以进行长期部署和运行。室内光伏电池有可能提供所需的能量。运行这些设备所需的功率不断减少，而室内光伏（IPV）电池的转换效率和功率输出正在迅速增加。当位于室内没有太阳照射时，IPV电池收集人工光源发出的能量，其照明强度通常比阳光低几个数量级。染料敏化IPV电池近年来在光电转换效率方面取得了长足的进步，在200- 1000 ~勒克斯光强下测量到的光电转换效率超过30%。环境光的收集提供了大量普遍可用的能量，可用于设计近乎永久的智能物联网设备。我已经开发了最高效的环境光光伏技术，可以在自供电的物联网设备上实现人工智能和图像分类。在本提案中，我为物联网设备引入了一种新的设计和能源范例，以最大限度地提高其感知，通信和预测的能力，由双功能设备供电，可储能染料敏化太阳能电池（ES-DSC）。该装置是能量收集器（室内光伏）和能量存储（化学超级电容器）的结合。化学超级电容器是一种将电能储存在分子中的装置，它基于有机氧化还原材料，不仅效率很高，而且是可持续的，无毒的。通过使用化学超级电容器，IPVs中能源产生的间歇性特性将被桥接，使整个物联网设备能够间歇性地桥接黑暗时期，以实现连续运行。提出的研究重点是创新和实现电荷存储电极。我将重点关注多紫原，它具有IPV细胞的理想特性，可用于电力存储，但尚未应用于这些新兴技术。来自EPSRC的资金将使我能够转化多viologens的有利特性，首先，通过利用化学超级电容器的高容量来提高光伏设备的性能、耐用性和功能。其次，我将操纵聚合物的骨架，以最大限度地提高材料中可存储的电荷量。因此，我将能够实现我开发一个新系统的雄心壮志，该系统使用有机分子，多viologens，将能量存储能力集成到太阳能电池中，从而生产出一个能够在白天和晚上连续为电子设备供电的单一设备。该项目的成功将使高效的光收集设备能够以低成本的方式进行卷对卷组装，这将对社会和经济产生巨大的潜在影响，包括国家和地方的就业、供应链、技能，以及减少碳排放和燃料贫困。

Intelligent wireless devices are rapidly evolving into indispensable assistants in numerous facets of our world. Merged with machine learning, wireless sensor networks are poised to advance the interchange of information in smart homes, offices, cities and factories. By 2030, an estimated 30 billion IoT (Internet of Things) devices are expected to be installed, the vast majority of which are to be placed indoors or in diffuse light conditions. IoT devices and wireless sensor nodes (WSN) will need to harvest energy from the environment for long-term deployment and operation. Indoor photovoltaic cells have the potential to provide the required energy. The power needed to operate these devices continues to decrease, while conversion efficiencies and hence the power output of indoor photovoltaic (IPV) cells is rapidly increasing. When located indoors with no access to solar irradiance, IPV cells harvest the energy emitted by artificial light sources, with the illumination intensity typically several orders of magnitude less than sunlight. Dye-sensitized IPV cells have shown considerable progress in terms of light to electricity conversion efficiency of late, with values over 30% measured under 200-1,000~lux light intensity. The collection of ambient light offers vast universally available energy, which can be used to design near-perpetual smart IoT devices. I have already developed the most efficient ambient light photovoltaic technology allowing one to implement artificial intelligence and image classification on self-powered IoT devices. In this proposal, I introduce a new design and energy paradigm to IoT devices, to maximize their ability to sense, communicate, and predict, powered by a dual-function device, an Energy-Storable Dye-sensitized Solar cell (ES-DSC). This device is a combination of energy harvester (Indoor Photovoltaic) and energy storage (a chemical supercapacitor). The chemical supercapacitor, a device that stores electrical energy in molecules, is based on organic redox materials, which are not only very efficient, but also sustainable and non-toxic. The intermittent character of the energy generation in IPVs will be bridged with the use of chemical supercapacitors to enable the overall IoT device to intermittently bridge periods of darkness for continuous operation. The proposed research focuses on innovating and implementing charge storing electrodes. I will focus on polyviologens, which have the ideal properties for IPV cells, are sustainable for electrical storage, and have not yet been applied in these emerging technologies. Funding from EPSRC will enable me to translate the favourable properties of polyviologens, firstly, by exploiting the high volumetric capacity of chemical supercapacitors to improve the performance, durability, and functionality of photovoltaic devices. Secondly, I will manipulate the backbone of the polymers to maximise the amount of charge that can be stored within the materials. Consequently, I will be able to fulfil my ambition of developing a new system that uses organic molecules, polyviologens, to integrate energy storage capabilities into solar cells to produce a single device capable of continuously powering electronic equipment during the day and at night. Success in this project will enable high efficiency light harvesting devices to be assembled at low-cost using roll-to-roll assembly, which would have enormous potential for societal and economic impact, including national and local jobs, supply chains, skills, and in reducing carbon emissions and fuel poverty.