Multi-material 3D printed smart floor tiles with triboelectric energy generation and security monitoring

With the growing demand for integrated smart home systems driven by advancements in the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart city initiatives, the need for efficient, simple, and self-sustaining sensors has become essential. Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have recently emerged as a promising device for both energy harvesting and sensing. However, the fabrication of different TENG layers using conventional techniques is often complex, time-intensive, and involves multiple processing steps. Here, a single-step multi-material 3D printing (MMP) approach is used to fabricate the fully functional TENG device, consisting of positive and negative triboelectric layers, current collectors and supporting substrate. Nylon 6 and carbon/polyvinylidene fluoride (C/PVDF) filaments are selected for positive and negative triboelectric layers, respectively and conductive carbon/polylactic acid (C/PLA) filament was selected for both current collectors and wood/PLA is selected for both top and bottom supporting layers. The MMP-TENG is integrated with electronics to showcase its capability for remote monitoring in smart home settings to detect real-time fall detection and security monitoring. This research will pave the way for fabricating a smart floor for security monitoring and energy generation in a smart building.