The Internet of Batteryless Things

Batteryless, energy-harvesting systems could reshape the Internet of Things into a more sustainable societal infrastructure. IMAGINE USING A health bracelet that tracks your blood pressure and glucose level that you do not have to charge for the next 20 years. Imagine sensors attached to honeybees helping us understand how they interact with their environment or bio-absorbable pacemakers controlling heart rate for 6-8 months after surgery. Whether submillimeter-scale "smart dust,"25 forgettable wearables, or tiny chip-scale satellites, the devices at the heart of the future of the Internet of Things (IoT) will be invisible, intelligent, long-lived, and maintenance-free. Despite significant progress over the last two decades, one obstacle stands in the way of realizing next-generation IoT devices: the battery.