Smart paper
University of Washington researchers developing a Smart paper that can sense the water leaks. The paper can use as a switch, which turns on or off an LED light or an alarm system that indicates the absence or presence of water.
“Water sensing is very challenging to do due to the polar nature of water, and what is used now is very expensive and not practical to implement,” said lead author Anthony Dichiara, a UW assistant professor.
Dichiara and his team implanted nanomaterials in paper for conducting electricity and sense the presence of water. For making smart paper, researchers manipulated the wood fibers and mixed in nanomaterials, but never used to make sensing papers.
Embedded nanomaterials in smart paper
However, the paper could detect the presence of water came by way of accidentally. Water droplets fell onto the conductive paper, causing the LED light indicating conductivity to turn off. At first, they thought they had ruined the paper, the researchers realized they had instead created a paper that was sensitive to water.
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