Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Smart Home

This wooden smart home sensor doesn’t need batteries

Simon Sage
By

Researchers at the Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems have developed a means of creating a wood-based triboelectric self-powered smart home sensor. Basically, it can harness the energy you use to press a button or step on the ground to send wireless signals around the house. With this system, a layer of wood has a thin copper film applied to the underside, which makes contact with a non-stick layer beneath when pressed, and generates an electric charge. That charge can then be used to power a sensor and emit a signal.

The strength of that charge depends on the overall surface area but can be high enough to communicate your position on a floor peppered with sensors below the surface. This use case alone presents some interesting options. Smart lights could light up as soon as your footsteps are sensed in the area, or falling down could trip multiple sensors and fire an emergency alert.

A diagram explaining how remote sensors around the smart home would work.
Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems

This technology could be applied to switches as well. Smart lights regularly have mechanical switches for those times you don’t want to dig around in your mobile app. With a triboelectric layout applied, these switches could be able to talk to your low-power network without needing a battery or being wired directly into your home’s electrical system. That switch will also look pretty dang nice if it’s made of wood.

Related

We’ve bumped into similar concepts in the past. The challenges of developing a significant charge using wood as a primary material are high. Wood isn’t great at conducting electricity, so it needs a fair bit of treatment to be useful in smart home applications. Considering how little power these devices generate, we won’t be charging our phones just by walking on our floors anytime soon. However, being able to remove the need for batteries to be included in low-power devices such as smart home sensors could save on manufacturing costs and their environmental footprint. Being able to rely on wood as a smart building material also reduces the number of plastics used in the home. It takes time for these projects to graduate from the lab to the marketplace, but we’re eager to see it happen.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Simon Sage
Simon Sage
Contributor
Simon has been publishing in tech since before the first iPhone was released. When he's not busy lighting a candle for the…
Blink Outdoor Camera 4 launches with Person Detection, new design, 2-year battery life
The Blink Outdoor Camera 4 mounted on a brick wall.

The Blink Outdoor Camera 4 is the newest addition to the Blink catalog, offering the same impressive battery life as its predecessor while bundling in better motion detection skills and a sleek, updated design. The camera is now available for $120, which includes a Sync Module 2.

One of the first things you’ll notice about the Blink Outdoor Camera 4 is its new look. It’s still a solid black square like the old Blink Outdoor Camera 3, but its camera has been repositioned from the center of the device to the top corner. It also looks a bit more streamlined than the outgoing model, with fewer accents and indentations across its front.

Read more
Leviton’s new outdoor smart plug is the first with Matter support
The Leviton Outdoor Smart Plug plugged into an outlet in front of red siding.

The Leviton Decora Smart Wi-Fi Outdoor Plug-In Switch is the latest product to offer Matter support. In fact, it’s also the first and only Matter-enabled outdoor smart plug on the market. It's a bit expensive at $55, but seeing as it’s the only member of its class right now, it might be worth the price tag.

Aside from Matter support, Leviton packed the Decora Smart Wi-Fi Outdoor Plug-In Switch with premium features. This includes extreme weather protection, an IP65 rating for waterproofing, a built-in light sensor that can automatically turn the unit on or off, and support for the Leviton smartphone app.

Read more
What is Apple HomeKit?
Apple HomeKit app on smartphone.

Apple HomeKit, often called Apple Home, is a smart home platform that lets you control all your smart home gadgets in one place. Its main competitors are Amazon Alexa and Google Home -- both of which offer similar functionality and support for a wide range of products.

There’s a lot of nuance to Apple Home, and it has seen continued growth over the past few years, making it a compelling choice to power your smart home.

Read more