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

这项小企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发技术，以解决与减少氮肥投入成本相关的农民的一个重大痛点。该技术基于植物内传感器技术，使农民能够更仔细、更精确地为每块田地的每个部分定制氮肥施用。通过监测植物体内硝酸盐的积累，农民将获得哪些田地和田地的哪些部分营养受限的实时读数，并且在施用额外的氮肥后可以产生更高的产量。这些读数还将识别那些已经有足够氮的田地，这意味着进一步的应用只会降低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，还可以通过减少农业活性氮的损失来改善水质和生态系统的健康。该SBIR一期项目提出开发一种植物内传感器，以低成本和近实时监测植物中的硝酸盐浓度。现有的秸秆氮测量必须在实验室环境中进行，要求农民收集样本，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。实验室检测的费用很高，只有一小部分农民进行氮检测。植物内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，并提供快速的反馈，允许农民（或他们的作物顾问）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开发一种植物内传感器。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，以低成本最小化传感器，提高传感器的封装稳健性，以及在温室中验证传感器原型。植物内传感器将以最小的入侵直接检测秸秆硝酸盐浓度，同时对存在于植物茎或茎中的其他离子的干扰具有鲁棒性。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 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.