Nanostructures for Chemical Sensing

Nanostructures have stolen the limelight in the development of highly sensitive and selective chemical-sensing technologies. Their unique properties, such as high surface-to-volume ratios, tunable physicochemical properties, and quantum confinement phenomena, have enabled the design of bio(chemical) sensors with excellent sensitivity and selectivity. These nanostructured materials may include a wide variety of candidates, such as nanoparticles, nanowires, nanocubes, nanoplatelets, quantum dots, nanorods, nanofilms, nanotubes, graphene, MXenes, 2D transition metal dichalcogenides, metal nanoclusters, nanocomposites, etc. The abovementioned nanostructures can be engineered to detect a plethora of chemical species, ranging from gases to ions and biomolecules, and hold great promise for applications in environmental monitoring, food safety, biomedical diagnostics, and security purposes. This Section aims to focus on the recent developments in advanced functional nanostructures and their application in chemical sensing.