In this work, we design and fabricate a wireless system with the main operating device based on zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires. The main operating device is based on piezoelectric nanogenerator (NG) achieved using ZnO nanowires grown hydrothermally on paper substrate. The fabricated NG is capable of harvesting ambient mechanical energy from various kinds of human motion, e.g., footsteps. The harvested electric output has been used to serve as a self-powered pressure sensor. Without any storage device, the signal from a single footstep has successfully triggered a wireless sensor node circuit. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using ZnO nanowire piezoelectric NG as a low-frequency self-powered sensor, with potential applications in wireless sensor networks.

A wireless sensor network was used to automatically control the life-support equipment of a green wall and to measure its influence on the air quality. Temperature, relative humidity, particulate matter, volatile organic compound and carbon dioxide were monitored during different tests. Green wall performance on improving the air quality and the influence of the air flow through the green wall on its performance were studied. The experimental results show that the green wall is effective to absorb particulate matter and volatile organic compound. The air flow through the green wall significantly increases the performance. The built-in fan increases the absorption rate of particulate matter by 8 times and that of formaldehyde by 3 times.