Development of a Pt, Pd, Ag and Au Nanocluster Decorated SnO2 Sensor Array for Precision Agriculture

Nowadays, precision farming is a key topic. Because of the steady increase in the world's population, which is expected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050, it is vital to increase the productivity of agricultural land while reducing waste of water, fertilizers, pesticides and pesticide. To achieve these goals, precision agriculture aims to provide farmers with a wealth of information to optimize field management, by matching farming practices more closely to crop needs. This information is obtained exploiting satellite and weather data, and wireless sensor arrays, which combined with the use of GPS, Internet of Things (IoT) and machine learning allow the farmer to operate with both a control and predictive approach [1]. For the best use of precision agriculture, it is therefore essential to collect as much data as possible on the crop status. On the one hand, various technologies have been developed or improved to collect information directly in the field, in particular to measure the pH, the nitrogen compound concentrations and the humidity amount in the soil [2,3]. On the other hand, there is not yet a well-structured system for monitoring crop gas emissions, which together with the control of soil parameters, can lead to a comprehensive evaluation of the effective health status and growth of the crop [4]. In this work, a sensor array composed of four different sensing materials, i.e. SnO2 decorated with Ag, Pd, Pt and Au nanoclusters, were developed and investigated to selective detect five different gases commonly present or emitted by crops.