Hybrid Energy Harvesting System to Improve Power Efficiency of Organic Photovoltaics in Indoor Light Sources

The Internet of Things (IoTs) is rapidly developing, and research on developing sustainable energy is becoming crucially indispensable. Among various energy harvesters, Organic Photovoltaic (OPV), which produces energy through light absorption, has a lot of advantages. However, since OPV is greatly affected by the surrounding environment, it is difficult to harvest energy that can be always operated. Accordingly, by incorporating a Triboelectric Nanogenerator (TENG) into the system, want to overcome the limit. We developed TENG with newly synthesized Deco-flex® with good elasticity which has a high resolution of 0.4 kPa and is sensitive enough to obtain a maximum output of 5 V and 1.34 μA. This was combined with OPV in series and measured at low illumination (LED 1000 lux: 0.32 mW/cm2). As a result, the output of about 8.5 V and 1.3 μA was come out, respectively. About 4.6 times of single OPV and 1.7 times more power than a single TENG were obtained. Through this, the OPV-TENG hybrid energy harvesting system can harvest energy under 1-Sun (AM 1.5: 100 mW/cm2) and low light sources and is expected to supply sustainable power by supplementing the low open circuit voltage (VOC) of OPV through TENG.