Abstract
We show that organic photovoltaics (OPVs) are suitable for high-speed optical wireless data receivers that can also harvest power. In addition, these OPVs are of particular interest for indoor applications, as their bandgap is larger than that of silicon, leading to better matching to the spectrum of artificial light. By selecting a suitable combination of a narrow bandgap donor polymer and a nonfullerene acceptor, stable OPVs are fabricated with a power conversion efficiency of 8.8% under 1 Sun and 14% under indoor lighting conditions. In an optical wireless communication experiment, a data rate of 363 Mb/s and a simultaneous harvested power of 10.9 mW are achieved in a 4-by-4 multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) setup that consists of four laser diodes, each transmitting 56 mW optical power and four OPV cells on a single panel as receivers at a distance of 40 cm. This result is the highest reported data rate using OPVs as data receivers and energy harvesters. This finding may be relevant to future mobile communication applications because it enables enhanced wireless data communication performance while prolonging the battery life in a mobile device.
Highlights
Wireless data access is a necessity in today’s data-driven world, which affects all facets of modern societies, including health, commerce, politics, and education
The active layer was a bulk heterojunction (BHJ) of narrow bandgap donor polymers mixed with fullerene and nonfullerene acceptors
This paper reports a fundamental breakthrough in the capability of organic photovoltaics (OPVs) to function as both energy-harvesting devices and high-speed data detectors
Summary
Wireless data access is a necessity in today’s data-driven world, which affects all facets of modern societies, including health, commerce, politics, and education. The demand for mobile data has been growing at a rate of 60% annually over the past 13 years[1], and there is no evidence to suggest that this exponential growth rate will slow down in the foreseeable future. Tavakkolnia et al Light: Science & Applications (2021)10:41 standardized Wi-Fi. Digital data encoding in OWC systems is based on intensity modulation (IM) of light sources such as lasers or light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Data decoding is based on direct detection (DD) by one or more photodetectors (PDs). Different kinds of light sources and PDs have been used for OWC in a wide range of applications[6,7,8,9,10,11]. Data rates as high as 15.7 Gb/s have been demonstrated by the efficient utilization of inexpensive off-the-shelf LEDs and high-speed silicon PDs12
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
