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Functional Nanomaterials for Sensing Devices: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications

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A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Synthesis, Interfaces and Nanostructures".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 March 2024) | Viewed by 7396

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Barbara Vercelli

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Institute of Condensed Matter Chemistry and Technologies for Energy, National Research Council, CNR-ICMATE, Via Cozzi, 53-20125 Milan, Italy
Interests: material science; nanotechnology; self-assembly; thin films; conducting polymers; electrochemistry; nanoparticles synthesis
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Functional nanomaterials (e.g., metal–organic frameworks, noble metal nanoclusters, semiconductor quantum dots, carbon-based nano-systems, polymer nanoparticles, perovskites, transition metals, and metal oxides) exhibit peculiar properties (e.g., high surface area, tunable surface structures, and advanced optical/electrical/mechanical features), which enable their employment in the design and development of sensors for the detection of numerous targets, such as heavy metals, organic pollutants, pathogenic microbes, biomarkers, metabolites, narcotics, explosives, etc. Depending on the nanomaterial properties and the specific target, a plethora of sensing techniques (from electrochemical detection to optical, fluorescence, surface plasmon resonance, colorimetry, etc.) could be employed for the design of the sensing device. In the light of the above considerations, the present Special Issue is addressed to scholars who aim to share their recent findings in the synthesis and characterization of functional nanomaterials and their application sensing devices. The purpose is to gather the latest results in the modeling, simulation, synthesis, advanced characterization, and sensing applications.

Topics will include but are not limited to:

Conventional, unconventional, and “green” synthesis approaches;
Innovative preparation routes to nano-systems with tailored spatial organization;
Modeling, simulation, and characterization of nanomaterials;
Recycling and renewable resources;
Functional and smart devices;
Device design and characterization.

The submission of reviews, mini-reviews, original articles, and short communications highlighting the potential of functional nanomaterials to improve sensing applications is kindly encouraged.

Dr. Barbara Vercelli
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nanomaterials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

green synthesis approaches
molecular modeling and simulation
advanced characterization techniques
optical and electrochemical approaches
smart sensing devices

Related Special Issue

Functional Nanomaterials for Sensing Devices: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications (2nd Edition) in Nanomaterials

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3289 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Microporous Polymer-Modified Glassy Carbon Electrodes for the Electrochemical Detection of Metronidazole: Experimental and Theoretical Insights

by Héctor Quiroz-Arturo, Carlos Reinoso, Ullrich Scherf and Alex Palma-Cando

Nanomaterials 2024, 14(2), 180; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14020180 - 12 Jan 2024

Viewed by 863

Abstract

The persistence and potential toxicity of emergent pollutants pose significant threats to biodiversity and human health, emphasizing the need for sensors capable of detecting these pollutants at extremely low concentrations before treatment. This study focuses on the development of glassy carbon electrodes (GCEs) modified by films of poly-tris(4-(4-(carbazol-9-yl)phenyl)silanol (PTPTCzSiOH), poly-4,4′-Di(carbazol-9-yl)-1,1′-biphenyl (PCBP), and poly-1,3,5-tri(carbazol-9-yl)benzene (PTCB) for the detection of metronidazole (MNZ) in aqueous media. The films were characterized using electrochemical, microscopy, and spectroscopy techniques, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Monomers were electropolymerized through cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry techniques. Computational methods at the B3LYP/def2-TZVP level were employed to investigate the structural and electrochemical properties of the monomers. The electrochemical detection of MNZ utilized the linear sweep voltammetry technique. Surface characterization through SEM and XPS confirmed the proper electrodeposition of polymer films. Notably, MPN-GCEs exhibited higher detection signals compared to bare GCEs up to 3.6 times in the case of PTPTCzSiOH-GCEs. This theoretical study provides insights into the structural, chemical, and electronic properties of the polymers. The findings suggest that polymer-modified GCEs hold promise as candidates for the development of electrochemical sensors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Nanomaterials for Sensing Devices: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications)

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12 pages, 6112 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Facile and Low-Cost Fabrication of SiO₂-Covered Au Nanoislands for Combined Plasmonic Enhanced Fluorescence Microscopy and SERS

by Alejandro Vidal, Sergio Molina-Prados, Ana Cros, Núria Garro, Manuel Pérez-Martínez, Raquel Álvaro, Gadea Mata, Diego Megías and Pablo A. Postigo

Nanomaterials 2023, 13(19), 2729; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13192729 - 8 Oct 2023

Viewed by 877

Abstract

An easy and low-cost way to fabricate monometallic Au nanoislands for plasmonic enhanced spectroscopy is presented. The method is based on direct thermal evaporation of Au on glass substrates to form nanoislands, with thicknesses between 2 and 15 nm, which are subsequently covered by a thin layer of silicon dioxide. We have used HR-SEM and AFM to characterize the nanoislands, and their optical transmission reveals strong plasmon resonances in the visible. The plasmonic performance of the fabricated substrates has been tested in fluorescence and Raman scattering measurements of two probe materials. Enhancement factors up to 1.8 and 9×10⁴ are reported for confocal fluorescence and Raman microscopies, respectively, which are comparable to others obtained by more elaborated fabrication procedures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Nanomaterials for Sensing Devices: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications)

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21 pages, 4789 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Supported MOCVD TiO₂ Thin Films Grown on Modified Stainless Steel Mesh for Sensing Applications

by Naida El Habra, Francesca Visentin, Francesca Russo, Alessandro Galenda, Alessia Famengo, Marzio Rancan, Maria Losurdo and Lidia Armelao

Nanomaterials 2023, 13(19), 2678; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13192678 - 29 Sep 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 910

Abstract

Among semiconductor metal oxides, that are an important class of sensing materials, titanium dioxide (TiO₂) thin films are widely employed as sensors because of their high chemical and mechanical stability in harsh environments, non-toxicity, eco-compatibility, and photocatalytic properties. TiO₂-based chemical oxygen demand (COD) sensors exploit the photocatalytic properties of TiO₂ in inducing the oxidation of organic compounds to CO₂. In this work, we discuss nanostructured TiO₂ thin films grown via low-pressure metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on metallic AISI 316 mesh. To increase the surface sensing area, different inorganic acid-based chemical etching protocols have been developed, determining the optimal experimental conditions for adequate substrate roughness. Both chemically etched pristine meshes and the MOCVD-coated ones have been studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) microanalysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). We demonstrate that etching by HCl/H₂SO₄ at 55 °C provides the most suitable surface morphology. To investigate the behavior of the developed high surface area TiO₂ thin films as COD sensors, photocatalytic degradation of functional model pollutants based on ISO 10678:2010 has been tested, showing for the best performing acid-etched mesh coated with polycrystalline TiO₂ an increase of 60% in activity, and degrading 66 µmol of MB per square meter per hour. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Nanomaterials for Sensing Devices: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications)

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16 pages, 5063 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Stretchable Sensors: Novel Human Motion Monitoring Wearables

by Chia-Jung Cho, Ping-Yu Chung, Ying-Wen Tsai, Yu-Tong Yang, Shih-Yu Lin and Pin-Shu Huang

Nanomaterials 2023, 13(16), 2375; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13162375 - 19 Aug 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1297

Abstract

A human body monitoring system remains a significant focus, and to address the challenges in wearable sensors, a nanotechnology-enhanced strategy is proposed for designing stretchable metal-organic polymer nanocomposites. The nanocomposite comprises reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and in-situ generated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) within elastic electrospun polystyrene-butadiene-polystyrene (SBS) fibers. The resulting Sandwich Structure Piezoresistive Woven Nanofabric (SSPWN) is a tactile-sensitive wearable sensor with remarkable performance. It exhibits a rapid response time (less than three milliseconds) and high reproducible stability over 5500 cycles. The nanocomposite also demonstrates exceptional thermal stability due to effective connections between rGO and AgNPs, making it suitable for wearable electronic applications. Furthermore, the SSPWN is successfully applied to human motion monitoring, including various areas of the hand and RGB sensing shoes for foot motion monitoring. This nanotechnology-enhanced strategy shows promising potential for intelligent healthcare, health monitoring, gait detection, and analysis, offering exciting prospects for future wearable electronic products. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Nanomaterials for Sensing Devices: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications)

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12 pages, 11271 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ultracompact MXene V₂C-Improved Temperature Sensor by a Runway-Type Microfiber Knot Resonator

by Si Chen, Junhong Ran, Tong Zheng and Qing Wu

Nanomaterials 2023, 13(16), 2354; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13162354 - 17 Aug 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 873

Abstract

We demonstrate an all-fiber, compact-structure, high-sensing-efficiency temperature sensor using a resonator structure sensor device of a runway type and MXene V₂C. The high-quality functional material MXene V₂C, synthesized by a simple two-step method, has excellent photothermal conversion performance. As-prepared MXene V₂C is integrated into the runway section of a runway-type microfiber knot resonator based on the coupling mechanism between the surface near the field of the fiber and materials. When the temperature variation range is ~25–70 °C, the corresponding transmission light intensity variation is linear, and the maximum normalized sensing efficiency is 2.21 dB/°C/mm. Our work demonstrates that the runway-type structure ensures the compactness of the sensor device and enhances the interaction distance between the material and the microfiber, which provides additional integration strategies for functional material-based sensor devices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Nanomaterials for Sensing Devices: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications)

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10 pages, 1012 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Red-Emitting Carbon Quantum Dots for Biomedical Applications: Synthesis and Purification Issues of the Hydrothermal Approach

by Barbara La Ferla and Barbara Vercelli

Nanomaterials 2023, 13(10), 1635; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13101635 - 13 May 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1924

Abstract

The possibility of performing the synthesis of red-emitting carbon quantum dots (r-CDs), in a well-controllable, large scale and environmentally sustainable way is undoubtedly of fundamental importance, as it will pave the way to their employment in advanced medical large-scale applications. Knowledge of the difficulties involved in producing r-CDs with reproducible optical, structural, and chemical characteristics, might help in their large-scale production, making the process standardizable. In this work, we present an experimental study, also supported by results reported in the literature, on the issues encountered during the synthesis and post-synthesis purification treatments of r-CDS. We focused on the hydrothermal approach as it was found to be more suitable for future large-scale industrial applications. We propose three synthetic strategies and observed that employing p-phenylenediamine (p-PDA), as a precursor, the synthetic process showed low efficiency with low yields of r-CDs, large amounts of unreacted precursor, and reaction intermediates. Changing reaction parameters does not improve performance. The r-CDs obtained using citric acid (CA) and urea, as precursors, resulted to be sensitive to pH and difficult to separate from the reaction mixture. Furthermore, the proposed synthetic strategies show that the hydrothermal preparation of r-CDS requires approaches that are not fully sustainable. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Nanomaterials for Sensing Devices: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications)

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