Photo-rechargeable Zinc-ion Battery for the Internet of Things Working under Ambient Light

By 2025 more than 49 billion Internet of Things (IoTs) are anticipated due to technological breakthroughs and its widespread application in smart homes, smart cities, agriculture, health sector, and industry. However, supplying power to this enormous number of IoT devices is challenging.

Accordingly, an autonomous power source operating for multiple years is indispensable to run this massive number of IoTs and portable electronic devices.

Photo-rechargeable batteries harvest and storage energy in a single device, and have grown huge attention as an autonomous power source in recent years.

In this project, we will develop dye-sensitized photo-rechargeable zinc-ion batteries, which can work under ambient light (artificial indoor and outdoor diffuse light) and could be an autonomous power source for IoTs and low-power-consuming portable electronic devices.

This project focuses on the development of the vanadium-based high entropy oxide cathodes for rechargeable zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) and its integration with a high opencircuit voltage Cu-electrolyte based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs).

DSSCs are recognised for their cost-effectiveness, environmentally friendly nature, and simple fabrication process, surpassing power conversion efficiency by over 38.0% under indoor lighting conditions.

Concurrently, ZIBs offer an environmentally friendly and more manageable alternative to non-aqueous rechargeable batteries, simplifying fabrication and further cutting costs. Furthermore, ZIBs have a compatible voltage window with the DSSCs.

Therefore, integrating DSSCs with aqueous ZIBs is a feasible technique as an autonomous power source that can be both cost-effective and environmentally friendly.

The project aims to revolutionise the field of green energy by fostering the rapid advancement of photorechargeable batteries that are more sustainable and efficient.