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To ensure greater safety, Chinese researchers have developed a 'fire alarm wallpaper,' designed to address the problem of unnoticed smoke detector battery failure. This breakthrough innovation could be mass-produced to protect lives.
Here's the mechanism: When a thermosensitive sensor, using ink, detects intense heat behind the wallpaper, it switches from an insulating to a conductive state, as explained by phys.org. This action triggers an alarm that sounds a shrill whistle and flashes warning lights for about five minutes.
Not only does it notify residents of a fire within two seconds, but it also helps stop the fire from spreading. Unlike typical wallpaper, this advanced material is nonflammable and resistant to high temperatures. It’s made from hydroxyapatite, a substance found in bones and teeth.
Researchers aim to scale up the production of this innovative wallpaper affordably, while also exploring other potential applications for the material. These include uses in preserving important documents, energy storage, air purification, water treatment, environmental protection, anti-counterfeiting measures, flexible electronics, and biomedical fields, according to lead researcher Ying-Jie Zhu, a professor at the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, as reported by phys.org. Their study was published in the journal ACS Nano.
Watch the video below to see the wallpaper in action.
