Europe is challenged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to at least 55% by 2030 and to increase the share of renewable electricity to 75% by 2050. Photovoltaic (PV) energy, as the most cost-effective and easily deployable clean energy technology, has the potential to support these goals. Despite its advantages, PV application in electronic devices remains limited, as most devices rely on batteries. Batteries, however, have a limited lifetime and require frequent replacement or recharging, which restricts their use to easily accessible locations and hinders the expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT). Additionally, batteries pose environmental concerns related to their production and proper disposal at the end of their lifecycle. These limitations present a compelling opportunity for energy harvesting technologies, particularly PV, to drive the IoT revolution forward.

In this context, ENPOWER aims to introduce a new generation of photovoltaic devices, by developing and optimising emerging and alternative PV technologies compatible with low-power small electronics and IoT sensors, that will enable the IoT industry to achieve its full growth potential. These new devices will also be tailored for indoor use.

To achieve this, ENPOWER focuses on chalcogenide technologies based on CdTe, kesterite, Se and Sb₂S₃, employing low-cost, environmentally friendly, and scalable deposition processes, including the research on alternative nano-Si device architectures. The project aims to significantly enhance the performance of IoT solar cells by addressing key scientific and technological challenges, as well as going a step further with the demonstration at real world operational conditions of optimized device prototypes and IoT systems.

ENPOWER has a total budget of +146K€ and will run for three years starting this December 2024. The consortium is formed by a total of 4 partners from 3 different countries (Spain, Estonia and Italy): the Polytechnic University of Catalonia or UPC (the coordinator), the Institute for Energy Research in Catalonia (IREC), Tallin University of Technology (TalTech), and the University of Verona (UNIVR). The project also includes an industrial advisory board that involves relevant companies from the IoT sector (Worldsensing, Spain) and the PV sector (SOLEMS (France), MET Solar (Lithuania), Sunplugged (Austria), CTF Solar (Germany)). The involvement of these companies will be relevant to accelerate the transfer from research to industry and to ensure the development of industrially compatible processes.

IREC will lead the design and development of device and system prototypes that will be tested at real world operational conditions -corresponding to typical indoor office environments-, the advanced characterization of the processes and the environmental analysis including participation in the stability analysis of the devices. Moreover, IREC will have key roles in the development and optimisation of advanced device architectures, including the synthesis of absorbers and the deposition of optimised selective contacts, and will apply their knowledge and facilities for advanced combinatorial characterization for fast device and process optimization, applying AI based methodologies.

Acknowledgments (in Spanish)

Proyecto PCI2024-155054-2 financiado por MICIU/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 y Cofinanciado por la Unión Europea.