A new wearable technology -- for plants

Date:
May 4, 2022
Source:
American Chemical Society
Summary:
Plants can't speak up when they are thirsty. And visual signs,
such as shriveling or browning leaves, don't start until most of
their water is gone. To detect water loss earlier, researchers have
created a wearable sensor for plant leaves. The system wirelessly
transmits data to a smartphone app, allowing for remote management
of drought stress in gardens and crops.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Plants can't speak up when they are thirsty. And visual signs, such as shriveling or browning leaves, don't start until most of their water
is gone.

To detect water loss earlier, researchers reporting in ACS Applied
Materials & Interfaces have created a wearable sensor for plant
leaves. The system wirelessly transmits data to a smartphone app,
allowing for remote management of drought stress in gardens and crops.


========================================================================== Newer wearable devices are more than simple step-counters. Some smart
watches now monitor the electrical activity of the wearer's heart with electrodes that sit against the skin. And because many devices can
wirelessly share the data that are collected, physicians can monitor and
assess their patients' health from a distance. Similarly, plant-wearable devices could help farmers and gardeners remotely monitor their plants'
health, including leaf water content - - the key marker of metabolism and drought stress. Previously, researchers had developed metal electrodes
for this purpose, but the electrodes had problems staying attached,
which reduced the accuracy of the data. So, Renato Lima and colleagues
wanted to identify an electrode design that was reliable for long-
term monitoring of plants' water stress, while also staying put.

The researchers created two types of electrodes: one made of nickel
deposited in a narrow, squiggly pattern, and the other cut from partially
burnt paper that was coated with a waxy film. When the team affixed both electrodes to detached soybean leaves with clear adhesive tape, the nickel-based electrodes performed better, producing larger signals as
the leaves dried out. The metal ones also adhered more strongly in the
wind, which was likely because the thin squiggly design of the metallic
film allowed more of the tape to connect with the leaf surface. Next,
the researchers created a plant-wearable device with the metal electrodes
and attached it to a living plant in a greenhouse. The device wirelessly
shared data to a smartphone app and website, and a simple, fast machine learning technique successfully converted these data to the percent of
water content lost. The researchers say that monitoring water content
on leaves can indirectly provide information on exposure to pests and
toxic agents. Because the plant-wearable device provides reliable data
indoors, they now plan to test the devices in outdoor gardens and crops
to determine when plants need to be watered, potentially saving resources
and increasing yields.

The authors acknowledge support from the São Paulo Research
Foundation and the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory. Two of
the study's authors are listed on a patent filing application for the technology.

Video: https://youtu.be/i864_c0fvVg

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by American_Chemical_Society. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Ju'lia A. Barbosa, Vitoria M. S. Freitas, Lourenc,o H. B. Vidotto,
Gabriel R. Schleder, Ricardo A. G. de Oliveira, Jaqueline F. da
Rocha, Lauro T. Kubota, Luis C. S. Vieira, He'lio C. N. Tolentino,
Itamar T.

Neckel, Angelo L. Gobbi, Murilo Santhiago, Renato
S. Lima. Biocompatible Wearable Electrodes on Leaves toward the
On-Site Monitoring of Water Loss from Plants. ACS Applied Materials
& Interfaces, 2022; DOI: 10.1021/ acsami.2c02943 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220504100924.htm

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