I-Corps: Low-cost biochemical sensors to optimize agricultural inputs

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是无线生化传感器节点的开发，该节点将为作物种植者提供有关土壤或水培溶液化学特性的实时数据。由于土壤退化、侵蚀和城市商业化，每年有1200万公顷耕地流失。与此同时，自2020年11月以来，化肥价格上涨了260%。随着土地变得越来越不可用，化肥价格上涨，气候变化，农作物种植者正在努力生产足够可靠的产量，并正在寻找潜在的解决方案。提出的无线传感器节点通过向作物种植者、作物顾问、市政当局、监管机构和其他人提供有价值的信息来提高效率、盈利能力和恢复能力，从而解决了这些问题。根据技术经济分析，采用拟议技术的受控环境农业（CEA）生产者可获得估计15-20%的净利润增长。此外，该技术还可以通过创建其他信号（如pH值、微生物/酶活性、电导率和/或温度）、感兴趣的流体（河水或地下水）的传感器来扩展，并扩展到工业农业以外的其他市场，如消费者园艺、环境监测和/或化学加工。I-Corps项目的基础是开发低成本的生化传感器，测量影响植物生长的关键因素的浓度，如硝酸盐、亚硝酸盐、铵、磷和钾（NPK）。目前，高温硅制造方法用于生产材料兼容性有限的生物传感器。提出的技术使用纳米颗粒为基础的油墨，其中包含印刷在塑料基板上的聚合物粘合剂。此外，采用可扩展的印刷技术将离子选择性传感器阵列制造成单个可更换的传感器条带。可更换的传感器条连接到集成电路（IC）单元，其中放置了用于无线数据传输的电池和天线。这些传感器节点被编程为定期进行传感器测量，并将数据无线上传到云端。先前的结果表明，传感器可以准确地测量水培溶液和几种土壤类型中的化学浓度。传感器的性质使其能够以高空间和时间密度收集土壤数据，从而能够了解农业投入与土壤健康之间的关系。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a wireless biochemical sensor nodes that will provide crop growers with real-time data on the chemical properties of their soil or hydroponic solution. Every year, 12 million hectares of arable land are lost due to soil degradation, erosion, and urban commercialization. At the same time, fertilizer prices have increased by 260% since November 2020. With land becoming more unusable, increasing fertilizer prices, and a changing climate, crop growers are struggling to produce sufficient yields reliably and are searching for potential solutions. The proposed wireless sensor nodes address these issues by providing crop growers, crop consultants, municipalities, regulators, and others with valuable information to improve efficiency, profitability, and resilience. A controlled environment agriculture (CEA) producer adopting the proposed technology may obtain an estimated 15-20% increase in net profit according to a techno-economic analysis. In addition, this technology may be expanded by creating sensors for other signals (such as pH, microbial/enzymatic activity, electrical conductivity, and/or temperature), fluids of interest (river water or groundwater), and by expanding to additional markets outside of industrial agriculture, such as consumer gardening, environmental monitoring, and/or chemical processing.This I-Corps project is based on the development of low-cost, biochemical sensors that measure concentrations of critical factors influencing plant growth, such as nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK). Currently, high-temperature silicon manufacturing methods are employed to produce biosensors with limited material compatibility. The proposed technology uses nanoparticle-based inks that contain polymer binders printed onto plastic substrates. In addition, scalable printing technologies are used to fabricate the ion-selective sensor array into a single replaceable sensor strip. The replaceable sensor strips are connected to an integrated circuit (IC) unit where a battery and an antenna for wireless data transfer are placed. These sensor nodes are programmed to take sensor measurements at regular intervals and wirelessly upload the data to the cloud. Previous results demonstrate that the sensors may accurately measure chemical concentrations in hydroponic solutions and several soil types. The nature of the sensors enables the collection of soil data at high spatial and temporal densities, which in turn enables an understanding of the relationships between agricultural inputs and soil health.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.