Regenerative Plant Sensor

Abstract

A regenerative plant sensor and method for in situ monitoring of analytes in plant sap are disclosed. The sensor includes a substrate embedded with one or more shape memory alloy (SMA) wires, a sensor layer, a microfluidic system in communication with a fluid chamber and the sensor layer, one or more pumps in communication with the microfluidic system, a microcontroller in electrical communication with the sensor layer, the one or more pumps, and one or more SMA wires, wherein one or more SMA wires form a fluid gate in the flexible substrate, and wherein the fluid chamber is filled with a regeneration solution. Data are processed by an integrated data acquisition system, facilitating real-time data access for monitoring plant analytes. Also disclosed are methods for positioning the sensor on plants, regulating sap flow into the sensor, measuring analyte concentrations, and regenerating the sensor layer for subsequent measurement cycles.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.