The advent of battery technology revolutionized power storage for various purposes, including uninterrupted operations of IoT-based Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). However, limited energy sources pose a challenge for sensor nodes. To overcome this, researchers introduced Energy Harvesting (EH) in IoT-based WSNs, enabling them to overcome energy limitations and recharge IoT devices. The shift towards energy harvesting-aware routing is necessary to achieve a near-perpetual network environment. In light of the energy consumption of IoT-based WSN nodes, a simple energy-efficient routing technique is proposed to consume less energy. The protocol incorporates efficient link selection based on the closest angle to the destination node and is divided into two main parts: distributed neighbor discovery and routing processes. By incorporating EH techniques, the proposed model aims to improve network longevity. Experimental results demonstrate successful routing and promising outcomes in terms of energy and utilization techniques. INDEX TERMS Internet of things, smart cities, energy harvesting, routing protocol, energy efficiency I. INTRODUCTION