April 7 - 11, 2025
Seattle, Washington
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2025 MRS Spring Meeting & Exhibit
SU06.06.07

Biodegradable Temperature Soil Sensors via Stimuli-Responsive Polymers

When and Where

Apr 8, 2025
5:00pm - 7:00pm
Summit, Level 2, Flex Hall C

Presenter(s)

Co-Author(s)

Elsa Micklin1,Ana Aranzola1,Dominique Porcincula1,Widianto Moestopo1,Abhinav Parakh1

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory1

Abstract

Elsa Micklin1,Ana Aranzola1,Dominique Porcincula1,Widianto Moestopo1,Abhinav Parakh1

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory1
Soil sensors play a key role in managing field heterogeneity, resource expenditure, and crop selection. When dispersed in large agricultural fields, however, modern soil sensors transmit data at the cost of an increased environmental footprint from batteries and wiring. This poster reports a novel biodegradable temperature sensor utilizing bimaterial thermal deformation of a cellulose acetate and manila helix encased in PLA. The deformation of manufactured bi-polymer geometries was measured via a Python script and compared to generated COMSOL models. Cantilevers and helixes linearly deformed as a function of temperature in the range –30 oC to 60 oC, and one of these helices was integrated into a calibrated dial soil sensor. This sensor was deployed in a local carbon sequestration garden, and the readings were compared with a traditional digital temperature sensor. Finally, candidate materials for a future soil pH sensor via the same mechanism are considered. The geometry of this sensing mechanism uniquely situates this sensor for future applications in biodegradable wireless data transmission for soil sensors.

This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 (LLNL-ABS-869269). Support from LDRD Strategic Initiative (24-SI-002) is gratefully acknowledged.

Keywords

in situ

Symposium Organizers

Alex Chortos, Purdue University
Helen Tran, University of Toronto
Clementine Boutry, TU Delft
Giuseppe Barillaro, University of Pisa

Session Chairs

Seung-Kyun Kang
Gregory Whiting

In this Session