In-House Developed Graphene-Based Leaf Wetness Sensor With Enhanced Stability

Abstract

Prolonged leaf wetness is a critical factor influencing the development and spread of plant diseases, particularly fungal pathogens, which thrive in moist environments. These pathogens negatively impact crop health, photosynthesis, nutrient absorption, and agricultural productivity. Accurately measuring leaf wetness duration (LWD) is essential for early disease detection and mitigation strategies. Leaf wetness sensors (LWS) are designed to detect wetness on leaf surfaces. Traditional LWS, fabricated using printed circuit boards, have been extensively studied and are commercially available such as the PHYTOS-31. However, flexible LWS are preferred due to their ability to conform to the natural shape of leaves, improving accuracy, better contact resistance, and durability under field conditions. However, these sensors exhibited limitations such as electrode oxidation and peeling, reducing stability and wetness sensitivity over time. To overcome these challenges, this study investigates replacing conventional metal-based interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) with graphene-based IDEs, leveraging graphene's superior electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties. The fabricated flexible graphene LWS has been evaluated for its sensitivity, response time, hysteresis, temperature response, and stability, which are about ≈26,000%, ≈35 s, ≈5%, ≈6.79%, and 5 months, respectively. Benchmarking against the commercially available PHYTOS-31 LWS demonstrated an absolute error of ±3%, confirming the reliability and accuracy. These results validate the potential of graphene-based flexible LWS for accurate and long-term monitoring of LWD in agricultural and ecological applications.