Smart electronic soil sensors could enable farmers to deliver tailored doses of water to their crops, maximizing food production while saving water. KAUST researchers have developed a rapid and sensitive soil moisture sensor, at the heart of which sits a metal-organic framework (MOF) with a very high affinity for water.

Efficient water usage is a key challenge for farmers faced with feeding the growing global population in the face of climate change. “Irrigation management can help improve crop quality, decrease agricultural costs and preserve water,” says Mohamed Eddaoudi, who led the research along with Khaled Salama. “Highly sensitive and selective soil-moisture sensors offer the potential to improve the water management process,” Salama adds.

MOFs may be well suited to soil moisture sensing, Eddaoudi and his collaborators have shown. MOFs are highly porous synthetic materials with a cage-like internal structure that can be tailored to host specific small molecules, including water. “With their modular porous structure and easy functionalization, MOFs are excellent candidates for sensing applications,” says Osama Shekhah, a research scientist in Eddaoudi’s team. “MOF thin films have already been incorporated into electronic devices, paving the way for their translation to real-world use,” he adds.