Nanomaterials added to paper to make sustainable water sensor

The paper is laced with conductive nanomaterials and can be employed as a switch, turning on an alarm system indicating the absence or presence of water. The researchers described their discovery in a paper published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

“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 of bioresource science and engineering in the School of Environment and Forest Sciences. “That led to the reason to pursue this work.”

Along with Dichiara, a team of UW undergraduate students in the Bioresource Science and Engineering program successfully embedded nanomaterials in paper that can conduct electricity and sense the presence of water. Starting with pulp, they manipulated the wood fibres and mixed in nanomaterials using a standard process for papermaking.