Development of an electrode for carrots using conductive unvulcanized rubber

Abstract

AbstractElectrical impedance of plants is related to condition of the plant's cell tissue. In existing works, the impedance has been utilized for understanding the condition of the plant. There are three kinds of electrode for measuring the impedance: a needle electrode, a metallic foil electrode, and a conductive gel electrode. However, these electrodes have problems. The needle electrode injures the plants. The metallic foil electrode does not stably contact to the plant because the plants has curve and convexo–concave surface. The conductive gel electrode including NaCl blasts the plants. We proposed a conductive unvulcanized rubber electrode for measuring the electrical impedance of the carrots. Characteristics of the conductive unvulcanized rubber electrode were soft, deformable, and self‐adhesive. Thus, the electrode was noninvasive and did not damage to the carrots. In experiments, we showed that the conductive unvulcanized rubber electrode could be utilized for measuring electrical impedance of a carrot for 912 h. Moreover, we observed that the contact area of the electrode was larger than the contact area of a conductive adhesive tape electrode.