ZnO Nanorods Based Miniature Sensor Networks for Continuous Monitoring of Soil pH in Smart Agriculture

摘要

The real-time monitoring of soil pH would improve the management of the nutrients, leading to conservation of fertilizer as well as maintain the pH level in the agricultural field. This paper reports the interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) modified by ZnO nanorods (NRs) based miniature sensor networks for continuous monitoring of soil pH in smart agriculture. The pH sensor fabricated from a ZnO thin film layer followed by a hydrothermal growth lead to the uniform ZnO NRs patterns on the thermally evaporated IDEs. The soil pH sensor was analyzed and calibrated both standard and extracted soil samples in the range of pH 4 - 10. The sensor offers a sensitivity of 1.06 nF/pH in the range of pH 4-10. The pH sensor is highly selective to hydrogen ions even when other ions are present at significant concentrations. The fabricated sensor networks were embedded by a central Atmega328 microcontroller for continuous data monitoring of soil pH in agriculture filed.