A biodegradable sensor housed in 3D printed porous tube for in-situ soil nitrate detection

Abstract

In this work, we demonstrate a low-cost and biodegradable electrochemical sensor packaged in a 3D printed porous tube that can sample the nitrate ion from irrigated soil for detection while simultaneously protecting the sensor from any external interference when buried in soil; thus achieving a stable in-situ measurement of soil nitrate concentration with a controllable spatial resolution once deployed in an array format. The sensor array can also be coated/passivated by different biodegradable polymers (or thickness) having a controllable degradation rates, providing a time-delayed sensor exposure to the environment, hence allowing for a longer/tunable working period.