Smart Antimicrobial Carbon Interfaces Integrated with Distributed Environmental Monitoring Nodes

Abstract

The increasing demands of a powerful and sustainable environmental monitoring have enhanced the evolution of the distributed sensor networks that can work in polluted, biologically active and aggressive ecological conditions. Regardless of the great advancement in environmental Internet of Things (IoT)-based architectures, traditional monitoring nodes are very susceptible to the colonisation of microorganisms, biofouling, and degradation of surfaces caused by pathogens that critically affect the sensing accuracy, operational integrity, and efficiency in long-term deployments. This paper suggests a new model of incorporating intelligent antimicrobial carbon-based interfaces into a distributed system of environmental monitoring nodes to improve their resistance to wear and tear coupled with biofouling and at the same time sustain high sensing capabilities. Novel carbon nanostructures such as graphene, carbon nanotubes, and activated carbon composites are designed and antimicrobial functionalized by adding metal nanoparticles and modifying surfaces to effectively overcome bacterial adhesion and formation of biofilms. The suggested architecture can facilitate 24 hours monitoring of water, soil, and air conditions through the use of a combination of antimicrobial protection with an enhanced level of electrochemical responsiveness and increased signal stability. The test research evidences an excellent level of microbial sample inhibition ability over representative Gramme-positive and Gramme-negative strains, as well as supported sensor drift and extended working life on extended exposure circumstances. Moreover, integration of antimicrobial interfaces in the distributed IoT nodes exert decreasing effect on maintenance and enhances real-time data stability in the problematic field implementation. The results identify antimicrobial carbon interfaces as an initiating technology to transformative high-resilience environmental surveillance platforms, and the result is also a programmable antenna to sustainability, contamination-resistant environment-sensing interfaces to smart ecological and human health uses.