SBIR Phase I: Low-cost in-planta nitrate sensor

SBIR 第一阶段：低成本植物内硝酸盐传感器

• 批准号: 1914251
• 负责人: Xinran Wang
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: ENGENIOUSAG, LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-07-01 至 2022-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1914251&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Low; cost; planta

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to develop technology to address a significant pain point for farmers associated with reducing nitrogen fertilizer input costs. The technology is based on in-planta sensor technology that will allow farmers to more carefully and precisely tailor nitrogen applications to each part of each field. By monitoring nitrate accumulation within plants, farmers will receive real time readouts of which fields and which portions of fields are nutrient constrained and could produce more yield following the application of additional nitrogen fertilizer. These readouts also will identify those fields that already have sufficient nitrogen, meaning that further applications would simply reduce farmer profit and environmental sustainability. Widescale adoption and use of these sensors will not only improve farmer profitability, but also improve water quality and ecosystem health via reductions in agricultural losses of reactive nitrogen.This SBIR Phase I project proposes to develop an in-planta sensor for monitoring nitrate concentrations in plants at low cost and in near real time. Existing stalk nitrogen measurement must be conducted in a laboratory setting, requiring farmers to collect samples, mail them to a testing lab, and wait from one to two weeks to receive test results. The cost of the laboratory testing is high enough that only a fraction of farmers conducts nitrogen testing. The in-planta nitrate sensor technology will allow farmers to appropriately sample their fields and provide rapid feedback, allowing farmers (or their crop advisors) to incorporate the data into real-time decisions. This project seeks to develop an in-planta sensor through the fusion of silicon-based microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology and novel nanomaterials. The project will overcome major technical challenges through improving materials, fabrications, packaging, and validation, including optimizing MEMS fabrication processes to minimize sensors at low cost, improving packaging robustness for sensors, and validating sensor prototypes in a greenhouse. The in-planta sensor will directly detect stalk nitrate concentrations with minimal invasion, while being robust to interference from other ions present in the plant stem or stalk.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发技术，以解决与降低氮肥投入成本相关的农民的重大痛点。该技术基于种植传感器技术，使农民能够更仔细、更精确地为每块田地的每个部分量身定制氮肥施用量。通过监测植物内的硝酸盐积累，农民将收到真实的时间读数，其中哪些田地和田地的哪些部分受到养分限制，并且在施用额外的氮肥后可以产生更多的产量。 这些读数还将确定那些已经有足够氮的田地，这意味着进一步的应用只会减少农民的利润和环境的可持续性。这些传感器的广泛采用和使用不仅可以提高农民的盈利能力，而且还可以通过减少活性氮的农业损失来改善水质和生态系统健康。SBIR第一阶段项目提出开发一种用于监测植物中硝酸盐浓度的低成本传感器，并接近真实的时间。现有的秸秆氮测量必须在实验室环境中进行，要求农民收集样品，将其邮寄到测试实验室，并等待一到两周才能收到测试结果。实验室测试的成本很高，只有一小部分农民进行氮测试。种植硝酸盐传感器技术将使农民能够适当地对他们的田地进行采样并提供快速反馈，使农民（或他们的作物顾问）能够将数据纳入实时决策。该项目旨在通过硅基微机电系统（MEMS）技术和新型纳米材料的融合来开发一种植入式传感器。该项目将通过改进材料、制造、包装和验证来克服主要的技术挑战，包括优化MEMS制造工艺，以低成本最大限度地减少传感器，提高传感器的包装稳健性，并在温室中验证传感器原型。该植物内传感器将直接检测茎硝酸盐浓度，侵入最小，同时对植物茎或茎中存在的其他离子的干扰具有鲁棒性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。