Precision agriculture harnesses real-time monitoring, data collection, and intelligent decision support to enhance agricultural efficiency and environmental conditions. In the pursuit of building a smart farm, it is necessary to label and record various life indicators of plants for comprehensive monitoring. Conventional plant labeling methods involve hanging PVC waterproof tags on plants, but these are susceptible to damage, disorder, and loss. Therefore, the development of an intelligent plant labeling system that ensures reliability, simplicity in recording, reading, and updating, and seamless integration with the IoT network platform is imperative.
In a new paper published in Light: Science & Application, a team of scientists, led by Professor Bingfu Lei from South China Agricultural University, China and co-workers have developed strontium aluminate particles coated with H 3 PO 4 as luminescent labels capable of spatial embedding within plants for information encoding and storage during growth. The encapsulation with H 3 PO 4 imparts stability and enhanced luminescence to SrAl 2 O 4 :Eu 2+ ,Dy 3+ (SAO). Using SAO@H 3 PO 4 as a low-damage luminescent label, we implement its delivery into plants through microneedles (MNs) patches. The embedded SAO@H 3 PO 4 within plants exhibits sustained and unaltered high signal-to-noise afterglow emission, with excellent stability. Inspired by binary information concepts, MNs patches with specific arrangements of luminescent and non-luminescent points are created, resulting in varied luminescent MNs arrays on leaves. An advanced camera system with a tailored program accurately identifies and maps the labels to the corresponding recorded information. These findings showcase the potential of low-damage luminescent labels within plants, paving the way for convenient and widespread storage of plant growth information.
SrAl 2 O 4 :Eu 2+ ,Dy 3+ with H 3 PO 4 encapsulation (SAO@H 3 PO 4 ) was used as a long afterglow material, this material exhibits good water resistance and enhanced luminescence, uniquely engineered to be spatially embedded within plants through injection by MN patches. These scientists summarize the dual functionality of SAO@H 3 PO 4 based MN patch:
“Firstly, it serves as a low-impact, luminescent label within plants, maintaining high signal-to-noise afterglow emission and remarkable stability. This enables the creation of QR codes via MNs for efficient, large-scale recording and storage of growth-related data.”
“Secondly, we have pioneered a user-friendly plant label recognition platform. This platform, featuring a Raspberry Pi motherboard and a high-definition camera, can swiftly decode the information encoded in the SAO@H 3 PO 4 labels into a binary format, allowing for rapid recognition and extensive storage of plant growth data.” they added.
“We believe our findings significantly advance the use of solid and micron-sized luminescent materials in precise agriculture, offering a novel approach for data storage and plant identification. ” the scientists forecast.
Delivery of Luminescent Particles to Plants for Information Encoding and Storage