A Conformal Second Skin for Long-Term Electrophysiology Monitoring of Plants

Electrophysiological (EP) signals are important plant health indicators as they are pivotal in the growth development and plants’ response to environmental stimuli or stresses. Long-term plant health monitoring through analysis of EP signals has become increasingly important with the growing risk of global agriculture instability. However, the long-term attachment of wearable electrodes has always been hindered due to hydrogel dehydration or poor conformability with plant surfaces.<br/>In this presentation, I will share my work on the development of a long-term coupling layer to achieve stable monitoring of plant EP signals. The high conformality of the coupling layer allows the non-invasive recording of EP signals for a month with superior signal-to-noise ratio and minimal drift.<br/>This work investigates the coupling mechanism and demonstrates potential applications, with the objective of laying the foundation for use of wearables in understanding plants' long-term responses to environmental changes.