A printed luminescent flier inspired by plant seeds for eco-friendly physical sensing
- Continuous and distributed monitoring of environmental parameters may pave the way for developing sustainable strategies to tackle climate challenges. State-of-the-art technologies, made with electronic systems, are often costly, heavy, and generate e-waste. Here, we propose a new generation of self-deployable, biocompatible, and luminescent artificial flying seeds for wireless, optical, and eco-friendly monitoring of environmental parameters (i.e., temperature). Inspired by natural Acer campestre plant seeds, we developed three-dimensional functional printed luminescent seed–like fliers, selecting polylactic acid as a biocompatible matrix and temperature as a physical parameter to be monitored. The artificial seeds mimic the aerodynamic and wind dispersal performance of the natural ones. The sensing properties are given by the integration of fluorescent lanthanide–doped particles, whose photoluminescence properties depend on temperature. The luminescent artificial flying seeds can be optically read from a distance using eye-safe near-infrared wavelengths, thus acting as a deployable sensor for distributed monitoring of topsoil environmental temperatures.
Document Type: | Article |
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Author: | Kliton CikalleshiORCiD, Albenc NexhaORCiD, Thomas KisterORCiD, Marilena RonzanORCiD, Alessio MondiniORCiD, Stefano MarianiORCiD, Tobias KrausORCiD, Barbara MazzolaiORCiD |
URN: | urn:nbn:de:bsz:291:415-8700 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adi8492 |
Parent Title (English): | Science Advances |
Volume: | 9 |
Issue: | 46 |
Language: | English |
Year of first Publication: | 2023 |
Release Date: | 2023/12/15 |
Impact: | 14.957 (2022) |
Funding Information: | European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program Grant no. 101017940 (I-Seed) |
Scientific Units: | Structure Formation |
DDC classes: | 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 530 Physik |
Open Access: | Open Access |
Signature: | INM 2023/160 |
Licence (German): | Creative Commons - CC BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International |