For decades, researchers have been searching for a better battery.
For decades, researchers have been searching for a better battery. Now an international team presents a bold new solution: ditch the battery altogether.
Led by Northwestern University and Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in The Netherlands, the researchers have designed and developed a new system that enables battery-free devices to keep time during intermittent power outages, solving a critical problem that has curbed research in the field.
Many small, battery-free Internet of Things (IoT) devices could work by harvesting ambient energy, such as solar, kinetic and thermal power. If fully adopted, using these devices would prevent trillions of used batteries from entering landfills. But because they switch between power sources, battery-free devices notoriously experience frequent, short losses of power.
Read more at Northwestern University
Image: Novel timekeeping circuit enables battery-free devices to quickly restart quickly after losing power. CREDIT: Northwestern University
