Abstract Modern agriculture requires rapid, affordable tools to monitor crops and soils directly in the field. Cellulose, the structural polymer of plants, is emerging as a versatile foundation for lightweight, biodegradable sensors that measure nutrients, moisture, stress, and disease without laboratory infrastructure. Spanning simple paper assays to flexible wearables, these platforms enable distributed, real-time insight into plant and soil health. As materials engineering converges with digital connectivity, cellulose-based sensors could accelerate the transition toward more data-driven, adaptive, and sustainable agricultural systems.
Rayappa et al. (Fri,) studied this question.