Range of products for biosensor manufacture
Case study: Dycotec’s range of products for biosensor manufacture
For farmers, the control of the amount of fertilizer being used is critical for crop growth.
Too little fertilizer and crop yields are not optimal. Too much and the costs increase and the potential for pollution from phosphate/nitrate run off into water streams increases.
Farmers require a fast and reliable method to monitor levels of nitrates, phosphates and potassium (NPK nutrients). A method to allow these measurements is an ion selective electrode (ISE) biosensor.
Key characteristics of these ISE sensors are high reliability, long term durability and cost effective. Printed electronics provides an ideal solution for mass manufacturing these sensors using high volume print processes.
These sensors are built on Dycotec’s broad range of printable biosensor products which includes pastes that produce silver-silver-chloride reference electrodes, carbon electrodes to apply ionophores (the ion specific detection molecules) and solid state electrolytes and junction layers that minimise drift of the reference electrodes. Sensors are typically manufactured using supporting material such silver conductors for sensor electrical signal transmission and insulating overcoat materials to provide protection to the sensor. These materials have been successfully combined to produce high performance, long durability biosensors.
In conclusion, the use of Dycotec’s range of products have allowed sensors to be constructed to enable sensors that have greater than 3 months stability. These sensors are now being used in both vertical indoor farms as well as for outdoor farming.
