Adhesive Gel Electrodes for Real-Time Plant Electrophysiological Monitoring, Electrical Stimulation and Wireless Plant-to-Plant Communication

Biosensors are promising tools for uncovering plant physiological processes. Monitoring key plant physiological parameters is essential for precision agriculture and smart farming. Due to their biocompatibility and ability to monitor electrical signals in plants, electronic hydrogels are perfect candidates for studying plant physiology and enabling environmental monitoring through sentinel plants. We present a novel sensing platform based on printed, biocompatible adhesive PEDOT:PSS/PVA gel electrodes for real-time plant electrophysiological monitoring. We demonstrate how these adhesive gel electrodes capture electrical signals from Venus flytraps in response to manual stimulation and environmental factors. Additionally, we show the electrode’s ability to effectively deliver electrical stimulation to plant tissue to trigger the closure of the flytrap. We combine these findings and demonstrate the integration of the electrodes with simple electronics to enable wireless plant-to-plant communication. This new adhesive gel electrode technology paves the way for new applications of printed electronics to advance smart farming techniques.