8.2.5 - Particle-based sensor materials enable plant-inspired upconverting I-Seeds as flying environmental sensors
- Event
- EUROSENSORS 2026
2026-09-06 - 2026-09-09
Zurich - Band
- Lectures
- Chapter
- Physical Sensors
- Author(s)
- A. Nexha, T. Kister - INM.Leibniz Institute for New Materials,Saarbrücken (Germany), K. Cikalleshi, S. Mariani - Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia,Genova (Italy)
- Pages
- 264 - 265
- DOI
- 10.5162/eurosensors2026/8.2.5
- ISBN
- 978-3-910600-12-6
- Price
- free
Abstract
Particle-based sensor materials enable plant-inspired upconverting I-Seeds as flying environmental sensors Albenc Nexha, 1, * Kliton Cikalleshi, 2 Thomas Kister, 1 Stefano Mariani, 2 Barbara Mazzolai, 2 and Tobias Kraus 1,3 1 INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials, 66123, Saarbrücken, Germany 2 Bioinspired Soft Robotics Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16163, Genova, Italy 3 Saarland University, Colloid and Interface Chemistry, 66123, Saarbrücken, Germany *e-mail: albenc.nexha@leibniz-inm.de Environmental parameters are a critical basis for decision-making in precision agriculture, remediation, and emergency management. State of the art probes for remote read-out require electronics based on complex materials that produce e -waste. 1 Here, we discuss self-deployable, biocompatible, flying I-Seeds as alternative probes. The bioinspired seeds are designed to provide optical sensor signal to be read using drones equipped with fluorescence light detection and ranging (fLIDAR) technology. Figure 1: Environmental sensors with ratiometric read-out. 4 (A) I-Seeds were 3D-printed from sensor materials that provide (B) upconverting photoluminestence. (C) Ratiometric analysis of the optical emission enables the reconstruction of environmental parameters, e.g. (D) temperature. We make I-Seeds from “sensor materials” with upconverting, plasmonic, and fluorescent nanoparticles that are embedded a permeable polymer matrix. The particles are electromagnetically coupled and arranged such that some of them react to environmental conditions or analytes. Others provide reference signals for ratiometric read-out. 2 For example, Hg 0 is detected based on its absorption by gold that causes a plasmonic shift and alters the emission of an upconverting lanthanide-doped particle. 3 The I-Seeds are designed based on shapes of natural seeds. 4 They are lightweight and carried passively by the wind and dispersed over large distances and areas. We 3D-printed artificial models to emulate the morphometric and aerodynamic characteristics of the natural seeds. Biodegradable polymers (polylactic acid (PLA) and cellulose) are used as matrices to reduce environmental impact. DOI 10.5162/eurosensors2026/8.2.5 EUROSENSORS 2026 256