Living Sensors: The Greenest Paradigm in Instrumentation and Measurements

Abstract

The advent of latest technologies, rising materials and solutions is enabling a brand-new wave of innovation. Going into more detail on electronic solutions, measuring architectures, transducers and sensors, a new environmental issue has emerged concerning the toxicity of such components throughout manufacturing and through use in peculiar applications [1], [2]. It should be noted that these electronic devices typically contain dangerous materials and noxious components, like batteries, which might be venturous for the local communities, and at the same time, have detrimental effects on nature [2]. In this framework, considering the era 4.0 with industry/agriculture 4.0, precision agriculture and smart solutions [3], [4], new ideas and paradigms in the context of sensors have overthrown “classical” devices, such as silicon-based elements, MEMS, semiconductors, and solid state chips. As a matter of fact, the semiconductor manufacturing process and the fabrication of integrated sensors represents an un-green step, far from being considered eco-friendly, considering that the CO <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> emission and pollutants is quite significant during manufacturing [5], [6]. They present, at the same time, limited biodegradability and lack the ability to be absorbed by the environment. In the perspective to conceive more eco-friendly devices, several approaches, mainly based on new compounds, have been addressed in the literature [7].