The company, 3G Solar, created an advanced form of dye solar cell (DSC) technology that uses glass-printed photovoltaic cells to power common household electric items.

“3G Solar has invented a device that will be connected or built in new wireless electronics so there will be no need to ever change a battery or to recharge a battery. So when you have thousands of censors for instance in a building, which is going to happen in the next few years, you’ll never have to change a battery again,” said CEO Barry N. Breen.

Dye solar cells, known as Graetzel cells, were originally developed over 20 years ago by Michael Graetzel, a professor at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland. These cells produce power from indirect indoor lighting without the need for semiconductors, similar to how chlorophyll turns sunlight into energy using photosynthesis.

“What we offer in our cells, in our light power devices, is a solution that gives three times the power of anything else that exists, and we’re talking indoors, where most the electronics are used. So three times the power to run these new electronics, the new censors, the smart watches and other wearables. So it’s a way to keep those powered that couldn’t be done before,” Breen said.