Abstract
This paper explores the use of several available materials in optical reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (ORISs) for application in indoor visible light communication (VLC) environments. To achieve this, we determine the reflectivity of selected materials. We evaluate the corresponding ORIS-assisted indoor VLC channel gains and the achievable rates associated with these materials. Simulation results show that recycled materials, like can lids, lead to lower reflectivity, channel gains, and transmission rates. However, they are available worldwide and free, and their utilization in ORIS contributes to a clean living environment. The results obtained with a liquid crystal (LC)-based ORIS show that we can achieve more than 100% of reflectivity if a dye such as a concentration of trinitrofluorenone is added to the LC's substance and helps to mitigate the data loss imposed by the double fading due to the introduction of the ORIS module into the channel. Keywords: Optical wireless communication systems · optical reconfig-urable intelligent surfaces (ORISs) · ORIS materials · liquid crystals· recycled materials· non-line-of-sight channel gains· achievable rates.