PI: Xu Zhang
Co-PI(s): Sheng Shen
University: Carnegie Mellon University
Industry partner: Powercast Corporation
The Internet of Things (IoT) will become an important U.S. infrastructure that not only connects people but also almost every object and machine, providing ubiquitous sensing and computing capabilities. Powering this large amount of connected devices conventionally requires billions of batteries that can lead to significant environmental burden. Especially the production, use, and disposal of lithium ion and lead-acid batteries can have a negative impact on communities, ecosystems, and food production. On the other hand, electromagnetic signals operating in the radio frequencies (RF) range are becoming increasingly ubiquitous and provide an important energy source. However, existing RF technologies are not efficient for ambient RF environment and typically require external batteries. By collaborating with Powercast (Pittsburgh-based), we propose to develop the first highly efficient and flexible rectenna (battery-free) arrays based on 2D van der Waals heterostructures, with cutoff frequencies fully covering the RF energy in the emerging 5G network bands, Bluetooth, the Wi-Fi channels. As a universal and clean energy solution, the proposed technology can fuel the exponential growth of largely distributed and connected sensors, offering unprecedented potential for ubiquitous sensing and bringing massive disruptions in healthcare, robotics, traffic, precision agriculture and environmental monitoring, critical to Pennsylvania’s future.