Publication date: 15th December 2025
The convergence of sustainable materials, unconventional electronics, and advanced fabrication strategies is opening new frontiers for next-generation sensing systems in agriculture and food technologies. In this invited contribution, we present a portfolio of thin, flexible, biocompatible, and—when required—biodegradable devices designed to interface directly with plants, fruits, and their surrounding microenvironments.
We begin by outlining advancements in low-impact materials and scalable, low-cost fabrication techniques that form the foundation for environmentally responsible sensing platforms. Building on these material innovations, we introduce an integrated toolbox of devices tailored for precision agriculture and fruit-quality assessment.
We first demonstrate how bioimpedance techniques, enabled by customized electrodes, portable impedance analyzers, and dedicated machine-learning algorithms, allow sensitive monitoring of both plant physiology and fruit quality. Extending beyond bioimpedance, we present printed impedimetric paper-based relative-humidity sensors that provide unobtrusive, continuous monitoring of the plant-associated microclimate, including deployment in real outdoor field conditions.
The talk then highlights printed stretchable strain sensors specifically developed for in-orchard monitoring of apple growth, enabling non-invasive, real-time assessment of fruit expansion dynamics and offering new insights for crop management and yield forecasting.
Finally, we address circular materials and biodegradable electronics derived from agricultural waste streams. Examples include conductive composites formed by combining hydrolyzed tomato plant residues with graphene nanoplatelets for biodegradable bioimpedance electrodes, and ultra-thin molybdenum-coated onion-epidermis membranes that deliver high-fidelity sensing with minimal ecological footprint. Together, these technologies illustrate that biodegradability, circularity, and high performance can coexist.
Overall, this multidisciplinary framework demonstrates how sustainable and unconventional sensing technologies can enable precision agriculture, enhance fruit-quality control, reduce resource consumption, and guide the development of eco-intelligent agri-food systems.
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