Facile fabrication of flexible sustainable light energy harvester for self-powered sensor system in food monitoring

Abstract

Light energy harvesting is a very promising way to provide the sustainable power for human activities with no pollution and low carbon emission, especially for realizing self-powered sensor systems in food quality and safety monitoring. This paper aims to propose and develop a facile flexible sustainable light energy harvester (FLEH) for self-powered sensor system in food monitoring. The FLEH was fabricated by assembling the facile materials of commercial PI film, Cu conductive adhesive tape and amorphous silicon solar cells. The flexible circuit was fabricated by sticking two Cu conductive adhesive tapes on the PI film, and the FLEH was obtained by soldering Cu conductive adhesive tapes with 8 amorphous silicon solar cells. The light energy was harvested and stored in a micro-supercapacitor or lithium battery by power management module. Two scenarios of the food stored in refrigerator and refrigerated box were applied for self-powered temperature and humidity monitoring. The temperature and humidity statue of the food under the storage temperature of 0 ​°C and −18 ​°C in refrigerator with the light intensity of 1000 lux and refrigerated box with the weak sunlight intensity of 9000 lux could be displayed by the LCD of sensor system in real time. The proposed facile FLEH has a potential application in many kinds of food storage monitoring and traceability with light energy reuse, and could provide a great advantages and potentials in development of sustainable food quality and safety.