Wireless charging has already transformed how people power phones, wearables and even electric vehicles. The next leap is to advance wireless technologies beyond delivering electrical energy to directly producing nonelectrical outputs, such as optical, thermal and mechanical energy, according to actual needs. This would create an energy delivery network as flexible and efficient as the internet.

To drive this transformation, researchers at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) have conducted a study that sets out a technical roadmap for a “wireless energy internet,” guiding the industry from “wireless power transfer” toward direct “wireless energy conversion.”

The work is published in the journal Nature Reviews Electrical Engineering.