Hi-tech wooden flooring can turn footsteps into electricity

[Judi Lynn]

Swiss scientists develop prototype ‘nanogenerator’ that produces renewable energy when trodden on

Natalie Grover Science correspondent
@NatalieGrover
Wed 1 Sep 2021 11.00 EDT

Scientists have developed technology that can turn footsteps into electricity.

By tapping into an unexpected energy source, wooden flooring, researchers from Switzerland have developed an energy-harvesting device that uses wood with a combination of a silicone coating and embedded nanocrystals to produce enough energy to power LED lightbulbs and small electronics.

This device, called a nanogenerator, is based on sandwiching two pieces of wood between electrodes.

The wood pieces become electrically charged owing to contact and separation when stepped on via a phenomenon called the triboelectric effect. This effect occurs when electrons can transfer from one object to another, akin to the static electricity produced when you rub a balloon on your hair for a few seconds.

If a material is tribo-positive it tends to lose electrons, and if it is tribo-negative it tends to attract electrons, said the senior study author, Guido Panzarasa, a group leader in the professorship of wood materials science located at Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich and the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology Dübendorf.

“Wood doesn’t have a strong tendency to lose nor attract electrons. As such, wood is a terrible triboelectric material, but wood is an excellent building material,” he said, noting that it is also beneficial given the material is a natural and renewable resource that also stores carbon dioxide.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/01/hi-tech-wooden-flooring-can-turn-footsteps-into-electricity

[Wicked Blue]

1. I would be nervous about spilling liquids on that floor

but it does sound interesting.

It gives me hope to know that so many people around the world are working to come up with solutions to our environmental and energy problems.

[Ocelot II]

2. I can generate electricity by shuffling across a wool rug on a dry winter day.

Cat doesn't like it, though.