Miniaturized eco-friendly systems for on-leaf sensing and drug delivery

Gallium aparine is a climbing plant that grows in different habitats and attaches itself to host plants and rough objects. It exploits its leaves, covered with microscopic hooks, to interlock itself to the host mechanically. Inspired by this plant, we developed miniaturized replicas of its anchoring structures in the form of arrays of microhooks.
This mechanism demonstrates to be highly efficient and effective for the anchoring of various devices on rough (inclined) surfaces, including plant leaves. In this project, we will develop this interlocking mechanism for miniaturized eco-friendly systems to be released on leaves (e.g., precision agriculture) for in-situ measurements of physical and/or chemical parameters and/or releasing substances.