Multimodal\nPlant Healthcare Flexible Sensor System

Abstract

The rising global\nhuman population and increased environmental\nstresses require a higher plant productivity while balancing the ecosystem\nusing advanced nanoelectronic technologies. Although multifunctional\nwearable devices have played distinct roles in human healthcare monitoring\nand disease diagnosis, probing potential physiological health issues\nin plants poses a formidable challenge due to their biological complexity.\nHerein an integrated multimodal flexible sensor system is proposed\nfor plant growth management using stacked ZnIn₂S₄(ZIS) nanosheets as the kernel sensing media. The proposed ZIS-based\nflexible sensor can not only perceive light illumination at a fast\nresponse (∼4 ms) but also monitor the humidity with a perdurable\nsteady performance that has yet to be reported elsewhere. First-principles\ncalculations reveal that the tunneling effect dominates the current\nmodel associated with humidity response. This finding guides the investigation\non the plant stomatal functions by measuring plant transpiration.\nSignificantly, dehydration conditions are visually recorded during\na monitoring period (>15 days). This work may contribute to plant–machine\nbiointerfaces to precisely manage plant health status and judiciously\nutilize limited resources.