ISCF WAVE 1 AGRI TECH: Low cost sensors to reduce storage losses
Lead Research Organisation:
The University of Manchester
Department Name: Chemistry
Abstract
Onion storage rots in the UK result in annual losses of 20% of the crop, worth approximately £6.5 million based on an average price. Detecting rots effectively while the crop is in store would enable better management decisions to be made and losses reduced. However, detecting incipient rots in a large store environment is problematic and frequently rots will be well advanced before they are noticed and affected crates or boxes removed. Plant material affected by pathogens causing rots emits volatile substances which can be detected and used to indicate that a problem is present. Detection systems are however expensive and difficult to deploy in sufficient numbers in a store environment. In this research project, we will develop a standard pathogen challenged onion material which will feed into the development of a novel printed electronic sensor, and then validate the effectiveness of the sensor in a series of small scale onion storage units where patogens have been deliberately introduced. The sensors have the advantage of being relatively inexpensive, and thus can be massively deployed in commercial storage units for effective and sensitive detection of developing rots.
Technical Summary
Onion storage rots in the UK result in annual losses of 20% of the crop, worth approximately £6.5 million based on an average price. Detecting rots effectively while the crop is in store would enable better management decisions to be made and losses reduced. However, detecting incipient rots in a large store environment is problematic and frequently rots will be well advanced before they are noticed and affected crates or boxes removed. Plant material affected by pathogens causing rots emits volatile substances which can be detected and used to indicate that a problem is present. Detection systems are however expensive and difficult to deploy in sufficient numbers in a store environment. In this research project, we will develop a standard pathogen challenged onion material which will feed into the development of a novel printed electronic sensor, and then validate the effectiveness of the sensor in a series of small scale onion storage units where patogens have been deliberately introduced. The sensors have the advantage of being relatively inexpensive, and thus can be massively deployed in commercial storage units for effective and sensitive detection of developing rots.
Planned Impact
The world population is expected to grow to over 9 billion people by 2040 and food production will need to increase by more than 50% to cope with the expected demand. Improving yields from existing agricultural surface is critical to deliver this deficit as land suitable for conversion to agriculture is dwindling. European agriculture is one of the most efficient worldwide but further progress in yield and productivity are critical to meet the immediate challenges of this century. The minimization of agricultural losses for crops that require extended storage such as onions and potatatoes is one approach to improve productivity and the development of distributed sensor systems is crucial to detect diseases at an early stage and enable effective intervention.
UK agriculture must act now to maintain its technological edge, to continuously develop and use innovative technologies and management techniques in order to stay at the forefront in this strategic area, and improve the competitiveness to capture the significant opportunities within this growing global market. To address new market opportunities novel advanced highly functional sensing systems are required with the following properties: low-cost, simplicity, portability, high sensitivity and specificity, high-speed, and real-time capability. At present sensors for the agricultural sector represent 4.5% of the total global sensor market and this is expected to grow to 9% by 2018. This project is therefore ideally placed to exploit market growth in this area and capture market share.
UK agriculture must act now to maintain its technological edge, to continuously develop and use innovative technologies and management techniques in order to stay at the forefront in this strategic area, and improve the competitiveness to capture the significant opportunities within this growing global market. To address new market opportunities novel advanced highly functional sensing systems are required with the following properties: low-cost, simplicity, portability, high sensitivity and specificity, high-speed, and real-time capability. At present sensors for the agricultural sector represent 4.5% of the total global sensor market and this is expected to grow to 9% by 2018. This project is therefore ideally placed to exploit market growth in this area and capture market share.
Publications

Garlapati S
(2023)
Microactuators, Microsensors and Micromechanisms - MAMM 2022

Ozer E
(2023)
Malodour classification with low-cost flexible electronics.
in Nature communications

Rahmanudin A
(2020)
Robust High-Capacitance Polymer Gate Dielectrics for Stable Low-Voltage Organic Field-Effect Transistor Sensors
in Advanced Electronic Materials
Description | The project was extremely successful in a very limited timeframe. A sensor system was developed that was able to distinguish between healthy and rotten apples with a high level of accuracy. Moreover it was possible to determine which sensor types were most appropriate to differentiate the headspace volatiles in commercial crop stores. |
Exploitation Route | The sensor system may be used to evaluate stored apples for the development of nektaria rot in commercial crop stores. The approach could be adopted for many other stored fruits. |
Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Electronics Environment |
Description | Development of gas sensors for use in early detection of food storage losses and detection of environmental gases and other VOCs |
First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
Sector | Electronics |
Impact Types | Economic |
Description | PlasticARMPit: Accelerating the Development of Flexible Integrated Smart Systems |
Amount | £1,339,681 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 103390 |
Organisation | Innovate UK |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2017 |
End | 06/2021 |
Description | RBAN: Roadside Breath Analysis for Narcotics |
Amount | £322,308 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 10017013 |
Organisation | Innovate UK |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2022 |
End | 02/2023 |
Description | GAs sensing with CDT |
Organisation | Cambridge Display Technology |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | We have collaborated on developing a sensor system for studying food storage losses and have provided access for CDT to specialist testing equipment |
Collaborator Contribution | CDT have provided substrates to University of Manchester as a basis to make new gas sensor devices |
Impact | Multi-disciplinary: Chemistry, Physics, Plant Science |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | NIAB |
Organisation | National Institute of Agronomy and Botany (NIAB) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We have measured volatile headspace over rotten fruit and used this to develop sensors to detect these volatiles |
Collaborator Contribution | Plant Science partner on project, looking at the detection of rot in food storage |
Impact | Multidisciplinary - plant science, chemistry, physics and engineering |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | PlasticARMPIT |
Organisation | Arm Limited |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Researchers at UoM fabricated and tested a gas sensor array for use in this electronic nose. They also developed hardware, firmware and software to integrate the various elements of the system to detect and qualify a persons body odour |
Collaborator Contribution | Arm developed software algorithms, Unilever provided data, samples and analytical chemistry, Pragmatic Printing developed and fabricated circuits to amplify and process the signals output by the sensor array. |
Impact | Multidisciplinary: Chemistry, Physics, Electronic Engineering, Computer Science 1.Rahmanudin, A. et al. Robust High-Capacitance Polymer Gate Dielectrics for Stable Low-Voltage Organic Field-Effect Transistor Sensors. Adv Electron Mater 6, 1901127 (2020). 2.Mougkogiannis, P., Turner, M. & Persaud, K. Amine Detection Using Organic Field Effect Transistor Gas Sensors. Sensors 21, 13 (2020). 3.Ozer, E. et al. Malodour classification with low-cost flexible electronics. Nat Commun 14, 777 (2023). |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | PlasticARMPIT |
Organisation | Pragmatic Printing Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Researchers at UoM fabricated and tested a gas sensor array for use in this electronic nose. They also developed hardware, firmware and software to integrate the various elements of the system to detect and qualify a persons body odour |
Collaborator Contribution | Arm developed software algorithms, Unilever provided data, samples and analytical chemistry, Pragmatic Printing developed and fabricated circuits to amplify and process the signals output by the sensor array. |
Impact | Multidisciplinary: Chemistry, Physics, Electronic Engineering, Computer Science 1.Rahmanudin, A. et al. Robust High-Capacitance Polymer Gate Dielectrics for Stable Low-Voltage Organic Field-Effect Transistor Sensors. Adv Electron Mater 6, 1901127 (2020). 2.Mougkogiannis, P., Turner, M. & Persaud, K. Amine Detection Using Organic Field Effect Transistor Gas Sensors. Sensors 21, 13 (2020). 3.Ozer, E. et al. Malodour classification with low-cost flexible electronics. Nat Commun 14, 777 (2023). |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | PlasticARMPIT |
Organisation | Unilever |
Department | Unilever UK R&D Centre Port Sunlight |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Researchers at UoM fabricated and tested a gas sensor array for use in this electronic nose. They also developed hardware, firmware and software to integrate the various elements of the system to detect and qualify a persons body odour |
Collaborator Contribution | Arm developed software algorithms, Unilever provided data, samples and analytical chemistry, Pragmatic Printing developed and fabricated circuits to amplify and process the signals output by the sensor array. |
Impact | Multidisciplinary: Chemistry, Physics, Electronic Engineering, Computer Science 1.Rahmanudin, A. et al. Robust High-Capacitance Polymer Gate Dielectrics for Stable Low-Voltage Organic Field-Effect Transistor Sensors. Adv Electron Mater 6, 1901127 (2020). 2.Mougkogiannis, P., Turner, M. & Persaud, K. Amine Detection Using Organic Field Effect Transistor Gas Sensors. Sensors 21, 13 (2020). 3.Ozer, E. et al. Malodour classification with low-cost flexible electronics. Nat Commun 14, 777 (2023). |
Start Year | 2017 |
Title | ORGANIC FIELD-EFFECT TRANSISTORS |
Description | An organic field effect transistor (OFET) for use in a gas sensor for detecting the presence of one or more target gases, for example CO, CO2, NO, NO2, SO2 or O3. The OFET comprises a semiconducting layer arranged between a source electrode and a drain electrode, and additionally comprises a dielectric layer and a gate arranged on a substrate. The semiconducting layer is formed of a semiconducting material, suitably a semiconducting polymer, and an additive, suitably a multi-dentate organic ligand, for sensitising the semiconducting material to the presence of said target gases. The sensitising additive is present in the semiconducting material in an amount of up to 10 wt%. The OFET is suitably unencapsulated and suitably provides a sensitive and selective gas sensor which is stable to continuous operation in air. A gas sensor comprising the OFET and a method of preparing the OFET are also disclosed. |
IP Reference | WO2020152449 |
Protection | Patent / Patent application |
Year Protection Granted | 2020 |
Licensed | No |
Impact | Not at present |