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

这一小型企业创新研究(SBIR)项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发技术，以解决农民与降低氮肥投入成本相关的重大痛点。这项技术基于植物传感器技术，使农民能够更仔细、更精确地为每一块田地的每一部分量身定做氮肥用量。通过监测植物体内的硝酸盐积累，农民将实时获得哪些田地和哪些部分的田地受到营养限制的实时读数，并在施用额外的氮肥后能够产生更高的产量。这些读数还将识别那些已经有足够氮素的田地，这意味着进一步的施氮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将提高农民的盈利能力，还将通过减少农业中活性氮素的损失来改善水质和生态系统健康。这个SBIR第一阶段项目建议开发一种用于低成本和近实时地监测植物中硝酸盐浓度的植物传感器。现有的秸秆氮测量必须在实验室进行，要求农民收集样本，将其邮寄到检测实验室，并等待一到两周才能收到检测结果。实验室检测的成本足够高，只有一小部分农民进行氮气检测。内置硝酸盐传感器技术将允许农民对他们的田地进行适当的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电子机械系统(MEMS)技术和新型纳米材料的融合来开发一种PLANTA传感器。该项目将通过改进材料、制造、封装和验证来克服主要的技术挑战，包括优化MEMS制造工艺，以低成本将传感器降至最低，提高传感器的封装稳定性，以及在温室中验证传感器原型。室内传感器将以最小的侵入性直接检测秸秆硝酸盐浓度，同时对植物茎或茎中存在的其他离子的干扰具有很强的抵抗力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.