SYMPHONY

The 21st century has been dominated by an ambient digitalization, a trend that is mirrored by the use of catchwords such as Smart Energy, Smart Homes & Smart Cities and the increasing use of electronics in everyday objects. Current IoT scenarios expect a number of around 75 billion connected devices by 2025, and the powering of these devices by batteries will result in a considerable amount of potentially hazardous waste. The spread of electronic systems in remote locations should thus be accompanied by a change in power generation, making use of dislocated and disordered energy sources. A cost-efficient and environmentally friendly realization of energy harvesting (EH), however, is still a challenge, as the required input of functional material and electronic components in comparison to the energy output is high and often involves lead-based materials, manufacturing methods that consume high amounts of energy and costly assembly steps. SYMPHONY aims for the development of new materials for low-cost and scalable printing and structuring processes to fabricate multimodal EH solutions based on the ferroelectric polymer P(VDF-TrFE) as well as printed energy storage devices and rectifiers not using rare elements and heavy metals. The hybrid integration of these devices on flexible films with low power harvesting ICs will result in a specific cost below 1€/mW (well below the value for piezoceramic and electrodynamic EH). The reduction of hazardous waste and energy consumption in SYMPHONY starts with material selection and manufacturing, but ultimately unfolds its full potential in the most CO2-relevant application areas: renewable energy generation, room heating/cooling and mobility. The innovative EH concept of SYMPHONY used to power distributed sensor nodes will reduce emissions by 50% increasing the efficiency of wind turbines (Smart Energy), making room heating/cooling 20% more efficient (Smart Home) and supporting the transformation of urban mobility (Smart City).