Vincenzo Pecunia, professor at Simon Fraser University’s School of Sustainable Energy Engineering, joined 116 internationally renowned scientists to publish a Roadmap on Energy Harvesting Materials in the Journal of Physics: Materials in March 2023. In the first example of a network collaboration of energy harvesting experts this large and diverse, they created a global guide for converting waste energy into clean power.

Drawing on different perspectives regarding diverse methods of energy harvesting, recent advances and present challenges, the roadmap analyzes the performance metrics of each technology in association with its energy conversion limit.

Already accustomed to smartphones and other smart home technology because of the use of sensors, embedded systems and the internet of things (IoT), the public is now seeing the development of smart systems deployed to create smart homes, cities, manufacturing and healthcare.

Pecunia, who leads the Sustainable Optoelectronics Research Group at the university, believes there’s “an area of tremendous potential [that] involves using ambient energy harvesters to sustainably power the billions of sensor nodes being deployed for the IoT.”

To address environmental impact and work toward net-zero emissions, it’s vital to move away from energy-intensive processes and systems of converting waste energy, such as combustion engines and furnaces.

Innovative materials that can efficiently convert ambient energy into clean electricity are necessary to achieve such goals. Thermoelectricity, piezoelectricity, triboelectricity and electromagnetic power transfer are some of the mechanisms that can convert ambient energy into electricity and improve energy efficiency.

“These materials have the ability to convert ambient energy from various sources including light, heat, radiofrequency waves (like those from Wi-Fi and mobile signals) and mechanical vibrations,” Pecunia said.

However, collecting energy from ambient light, vibrations and radiofrequency waves is difficult because of their limited power density. That’s why Pecunia believes that the development of energy-harvesting materials that can efficiently capture this energy and convert it to electricity is essential. “Another important priority is to develop energy harvesters that can be applied on all types of surfaces and objects, which requires energy harvesting materials that are mechanically flexible,” he said.

Ultimately, generating clean energy from indoor light by using printable semiconductors integrated with printed electronics could lead to the replacement of batteries. Batteries are problematic due to toxicity and waste disposal, and they also may soon be in short supply because of materials scarcity. Instead, energy harvesters could supply IoT sensors with eco-friendly, sustainable power.

The roadmap defines strategies for ongoing research into methods of capturing the potential of energy-harvesting materials to produce clean energy.

“Our hope is to catalyze research efforts in energy-harvesting research across multiple disciplines to ultimately deliver clean energy anywhere, anytime,” Pecunia said.