On-site identification of ozone damage in fruiting plants using vapor-deposited conducting polymer tattoos

Abstract

Climate change is leading to increased concentrations of ground-level ozone in farms and orchards. Persistent ozone exposure causes irreversible oxidative damage to plants and reduces crop yield, threatening food supply chains. Here, we show that vapor-deposited conducting polymer tattoos on plant leaves can be used to perform on-site impedance analysis, which accurately reveals ozone damage, even at low exposure levels. Oxidative damage produces a unique change in the high-frequency (>104 Hz) impedance and phase signals of leaves, which is not replicated by other abiotic stressors, such as drought. The polymer tattoos are resilient against ozone-induced chemical degradation and persist on the leaves of fruiting plants, thus allowing for frequent and long-term monitoring of cellular ozone damage in economically important crops, such as grapes and apples.

Non-destructive Technologies for Plant Health Diagnosis

“…Drought and UV photodamage in plants can be monitored over 130 days with this approach. Through non-destructive impedance measurements, these conformal polymer electrodes also enabled early detection of ozone damage in fruiting plants before the manifestation of leaf necrosis ( Figure 2B ) (Kim et al, 2020 ). Instead of monitoring electrical signals propagated by plants, Koman et al developed an innovative approach to monitor the opening and closing of stomata by printing a conductive ink across the stomatal apertures (Koman et al, 2017 ).…”

Electrochemical Sensors for Sustainable Precision Agriculture—A Review

“…Electrochemical sensors that detect target materials in various ways can be applied to wide fields such as industry, medicine, agriculture, and the environment, and it is expected that active research in the agricultural field will proceed in the future ( Lu et al, 2020 ) ( Lan et al, 2020 ) ( Im et al, 2018 ) (J. J. Kim et al, 2020 ) ( Lee et al, 2021 ).…”

Calibrating the CAMS European multi-model air quality forecasts for regional air pollution monitoring

“…Emissions of both sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides deposit in water, on vegetation and on soils as 'acid rain', thereby increasing their acidity with adverse effects on flora and fauna (De Vries et al, 2014). Increased ground-level ozone also causes damage to cell membranes on plants inhibiting key processes required for their growth and development (Kim et al, 2020). Ozone and PM also interact with radiation thus forcing climate change (Fiore and Leibensperger, 2015;Denjean et al, 2016).…”