  Breakthroughs in information and power transfer for wireless networks are
imperative in order to satisfy the requirement of wireless nodes for energy
sustainability. To this end, significant research efforts in academia and
industry have been devoted to the design of optimal resource allocation schemes
for RF simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) networks.
The transmit power constraints imposed by safety regulations introduce
significant challenges to the improvement of the power transfer performance.
Therefore, solely relying on RF resources to cope with the expectations of
next-generation wireless networks, such as longer device lifetimes and higher
data rates, may no longer be possible. Thus, the investigation of technologies
complementary to conventional RF SWIPT is of critical importance. In this
article, we propose a novel collaborative RF and lightwave power transfer
technology for future networks, where both the RF and lightwave bands can be
entirely exploited. In this context, we introduce the basic transceiver
architecture and four corresponding collaborative communication and power
transfer protocols. Finally, key potential future research directions are
highlighted.
