The FOAMIFY project is about improving the energy autonomy of buildings by integrating the generation of sustainable energy with thermal insulation in one material applied to building facades. Herein, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are combined with insulating foam materials, which allows buildings to produce their own renewable electricity and at the same time save energy by improved thermal management, respectively. TENGs are an emerging nanotechnology that enables the conversion of ambient energy sources like wind, sound and vibrations into electricity. On the other hand, new porous materials based on renewable biopolymers are processed into thermal insulation panels and merged with TENGs for the combined energy saving and energy production.
The FOAMIFY project is led by Bernd Wicklein and carried out at the Materials Science Institute of Madrid (ICMM-CSIC). The project commenced in 2020 and has a duration of 3 years. FOAMIFY is financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science by grant No. PID2019-107022RJ-I00.