Study Shows Growing Plants in Space without Human Intervention Possible

In a paper published in the journal Device, researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign report that new, highly stretchable polymer sensors can monitor and transmit plant growth information without human intervention. The study provides details of earlier research that investigated how wearable printed electronics can make farming possible in space.

According to chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Ying Diao, who led the study with plant biology professor and department head Andrew Leakey, the polymer sensors called ‘Stretchable-Polymer-Electronics-based Autonomous Remote Strain Sensor,' or SPEARS2, are resilient to humidity and temperature, can stretch over 400% while remaining attached to a plant as it grows, and send a wireless signal to a remote monitoring location.

SPEARS2 is the product of three years of hard work which was initially expected to run for only a few months. The team realized that their polymer was too rigid and reformulated a lot of the components to make them more soft and stretchable. They adjusted their printing method so that they did not form large crystals during the printing and curing process. The team landed on a very thin film device that helps restrain the crystal growth during assembly and printing.

For more details, read the article on the Illinois Institute for Genomic Biology website.