Authors - Gunchita Kaur Wadhwa, Rugved Dinesh Kshirsagar Abstract - Increasing infrastructure structures are being exposed to outdoor environmental factors such as UV, water, humidity, temperature fluctuations and air pollutants. At the same time, increasing trend of smart cities is highly dependent on successful implementation of wireless sensor networks to be able to measure e.g. the intensity of UV, air quality, temperature and humidity. Therefore, this research focusses on developing multifunctional nanocomposite coating composed of BNNS dispersed in PVA deposited on PMMA transparent panels that provides an efficient solution to many challenges related to smart structure infrastructure. This research demonstrates a coating material that, after optimizing its structural properties, behaves as following in one step solution: (i) effective UV shield using boron nitride nanosheets as filler, (ii) exhibiting superhydrophobic self-cleaning properties for water and chemicals after structure modification and chemical surface treatment, (iii) acting as an atmospheric energy harvester by using the tribocatric effects between the coating and raindrops for charge extraction, and (iv) behaving as micro-scale energy storage due to dielectric characteristics of BNNS within the coating, which could be potential to power Internet of Things (IoT) low power consumption sensor nodes. The multifunctional coating therefore represents a new class of self-powered smart-city surfaces capable of protecting infrastructure materials while simultaneously harvesting and storing environmental energy. The proposed approach contributes to sustainable urban development and aligns with Sustainable Development Goals related to clean energy and resilient cities.
