Powering the internet of things in aquatic environments: Solar energy harvesting through a buoyant biosolar cell array

Abstract

Despite the development of supportive technologies of the Internet of Things (IoT), the maximum potential of the IoT networks has been limited by the absence of integrative, sustainable, environmentally safe, and economical electrical energy sources to operate these networks independently. Conventional batteries have proven to be costly on a large scale, environmentally toxic, and unsustainable. As the IoT becomes more widespread and branches into domains such as aquatic environments, batteries are becoming less favorable as a power supply for IoT nodes. Similarly, most common energy harvesting methods have struggled as an energy solution because of their difficulty in integration, hazardous nature, and inconsistent performance. In this project, we introduce a miniaturized buoyant bio-solar cell array for solar energy harvesting through photosynthetic electrogenic bacteria in a microbial consortium. The bio-solar cell (BSC) can generate up to ∼90 μW/cm2 of constant output which is the highest power density achieved by a BSC so far. The BSC array can connect multiple cells powering a long-range wireless system transferring sensor data across ∼470 m. The proposed BSC's unique design allows it to be seamlessly integrated into aquatic environments operating for two months making it a great energy source for IoT nodes in lentic ecosystems.