We report a scalable, moisture-powered in-planta sensor platform for the continuous monitoring of plant hydration and growth. The system integrates two components: a leaf-mounted tattoo sensor for estimating vapor pressure deficit (VPD) and a kirigami-inspired strain sensor for tracking radial stem growth. Uniquely, the tattoo sensor serves a dual function: measuring temperature and humidity beneath the leaf surface while simultaneously harvesting power from ambient moisture via a vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) nanosheet membrane. This moist-electric-generator (MEG) configuration enables energy-autonomous operation, delivering a power density of 0.1114 μW/cm2. The V2O5-based sensor exhibits high sensitivity to humidity (4.2 mV/% RH) and temperature (1.02%/°C), enabling accurate VPD estimation for over 10 days until leaf senescence. The eutectogel-based kirigami strain sensor, wrapped around the stem, offers a gauge factor of 1.5 and immunity to unrelated mechanical disturbances, allowing for continuous growth tracking for more than 20 days. Both sensors are fabricated via cleanroom-free, roll-to-roll compatible methods, underscoring their potential for large-scale agricultural deployment to monitor abiotic stress and improve crop management.
Hossain et al. (Wed,) studied this question.