Polymer Nanowire-Based Reversible, and Quasi Real-Time, Ethyene Analyzer

In-orbit or deep space-based plant growth systems are of interest to NASA as part of fundamental space research and for ensuring supply of fresh produce to the crew. These systems are part of enabling technologies for sustainable and long-term human spaceflight. Ethylene gas is a natural plant metabolite and phytohormone. In enclosed spaceship settings, ethylene build-up can be deleterious to plants. Thus, there is a need to monitor ethylene in real-time, sensitively, reversibly and effectively. Currently, state of the art technology is limited with portability and detection sensitivity issues. To close this technology gap, InnoSense LLC (ISL) will develop a solid state electrochemical sensor (Polymer Nanowire based ethylene Monitor (PNet-Mon)). To expedite this development, PNet-Mon will build on electronic hardware platform engineered by ISL previously. The innovation on this project will only be on ethylene sensing. This effort directly addresses a need expressed in NASA Technical Roadmap (TA 6).