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Functional Nanomaterials for Sensing and Detection (2nd Edition)

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A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanoelectronics, Nanosensors and Devices".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2024 | Viewed by 3173

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Prof. Dr. Weiping Cai

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Institute of Solid State Physics, HFIPS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China
Interests: colloidal self-assembly; artificial micro/nanostructures; micro/nanostructured meta-surfaces; functional elementary ordered nanomaterial; nanostructured thin films; micro/nanostructured devices and sensors; surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy and applications
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Dr. Hongwen Zhang

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Institute of Solid State Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, China
Interests: SERS

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Dear Colleague,

Functional nanomaterials involve various nanostructured objects: zero-dimensional (0D), 1D, and 2D nano-objects (nanoparticles, nanowires, nanotubes, nanosheets, and so on), as well as materials with nanostructured surfaces including metals, semiconductors, and organic materials. These nanomaterials possess a high surface/volume ratio and nanotip- and nanogap-induced physical effects, which lead to significantly different functional properties from those presented by the bulk materials, and hence have great potential applications in sensing and detection.

These functional nanomaterials for sensing and detection are mostly used as transducers in tools such as spectral devices and chemiresistive sensors. They are also employed in some nanosensor designs as capture agents (magnetic nanoparticles), signal amplifiers (plasmonic metals with nanopatterned surfaces for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopic chips), identification elements (polymers for molecular imprinting), and more.

This Special Issue will attempt to present a collection of original research papers and reviews of the latest advances in the field of functional nanomaterials for sensing and detection.

Prof. Dr. Weiping Cai
Dr. Hongwen Zhang
Guest Editors

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Keywords

functional nanomaterials
heterogeneous nanostructures
nanopatterned surfaces
sensing performance
surface modification
nanosensors
fast and trace detection

Related Special Issue

Functional Nanomaterials for Sensing and Detection in Nanomaterials (11 articles)

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 5938 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Electroanalytical Enzymeless α-Fe₂O₃-ZnO Hybrid Nanostructure-Based Sensor for Sensitive Quantification of Nitrite Ions

by Rafiq Ahmad, Abdullah, Md. Tabish Rehman, Mohamed F. AlAjmi, Shamshad Alam, Kiesar Sideeq Bhat, Prabhash Mishra and Byeong-Il Lee

Nanomaterials 2024, 14(8), 706; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14080706 - 18 Apr 2024

Viewed by 412

Abstract

Nitrite monitoring serves as a fundamental practice for protecting public health, preserving environmental quality, ensuring food safety, maintaining industrial safety standards, and optimizing agricultural practices. Although many nitrite sensing methods have been recently developed, the quantification of nitrite remains challenging due to sensitivity and selectivity limitations. In this context, we present the fabrication of enzymeless iron oxide nanoparticle-modified zinc oxide nanorod (α-Fe₂O₃-ZnO NR) hybrid nanostructure-based nitrite sensor fabrication. The α-Fe₂O₃-ZnO NR hybrid nanostructure was synthesized using a two-step hydrothermal method and characterized in detail utilizing x-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). These analyses confirm the successful synthesis of an α-Fe₂O₃-ZnO NR hybrid nanostructure, highlighting its morphology, purity, crystallinity, and elemental constituents. The α-Fe₂O₃-ZnO NR hybrid nanostructure was used to modify the SPCE (screen-printed carbon electrode) for enzymeless nitrite sensor fabrication. The voltammetric methods (i.e., cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV)) were employed to explore the electrochemical characteristics of α-Fe₂O₃-ZnO NR/SPCE sensors for nitrite. Upon examination of the sensor’s electrochemical behavior across a range of nitrite concentrations (0 to 500 µM), it is evident that the α-Fe₂O₃-ZnO NR hybrid nanostructure shows an increased response with increasing nitrite concentration. The sensor demonstrates a linear response to nitrite concentrations up to 400 µM, a remarkable sensitivity of 18.10 µA µM⁻¹ cm⁻², and a notably low detection threshold of 0.16 µM. Furthermore, its exceptional selectivity, stability, and reproducibility make it an ideal tool for accurately measuring nitrite levels in serum, yielding reliable outcomes. This advancement heralds a significant step forward in the field of environmental monitoring, offering a potent solution for the precise assessment of nitrite pollution. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Nanomaterials for Sensing and Detection (2nd Edition))

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12 pages, 4742 KiB

Open AccessArticle

High-Performance Ethylene Glycol Sensor Based on Imine Covalent Organic Frameworks

by Shiwei Liu, Guojie Zhang, Weiyu Zhang, Ning Tian, Qihua Sun and Zhaofeng Wu

Nanomaterials 2023, 13(24), 3103; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13243103 - 08 Dec 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 818

Abstract

The colorless and odorless ethylene glycol is prone to unknowingly causing poisoning, making preventive monitoring of ethylene glycol necessary. In this paper, scandium (III) trifluoromethanesulfonate was used as a catalyst to successfully prepare covalent organic framework (COF) nanospheres linked by imines at room temperature. The COF nanospheres were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, FT-IR, UV-Vis and BET. The results show that COF nanospheres have rough surfaces and a large number of mesoporous structures, which greatly increase the active sites on the surface of the sensing material and enhance the gas sensing performance. The sensing results showed that the prepared imine-conjugated COF nanospheres exhibited a good response–recovery ability for 10 consecutive response–recovery cycles for ethylene glycol at room temperature and had a theoretical detection limit of 40 ppb. In addition, the responses of COF nanospheres to nearly 20 interfering gases, including HCl, HNO₃, phenol, formaldehyde and aniline, are relatively low compared to the response to ethylene glycol, indicating that the COF nanospheres have high selectivity towards ethylene glycol. The COF nanospheres show good sensitivity and selectivity for the detection of ethylene glycol, which should be attributed to the large specific surface area, hydrogen bonding interactions, and high defects. This work provides an effective method for the detection of ethylene glycol and expands the application field of COF materials. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Nanomaterials for Sensing and Detection (2nd Edition))

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13 pages, 2265 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Design Strategy for Surface Nanostructures to Realize Sensitive Refractive-Index Optical Sensors

by Masanobu Iwanaga

Nanomaterials 2023, 13(24), 3081; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13243081 - 05 Dec 2023

Viewed by 659

Abstract

Refractive-index optical sensors have been extensively studied. Originally, they were surface plasmon resonance sensors using only a flat gold film. Currently, to develop practically useful label-free optical sensors, numerous proposals for refractive index sensors have been made using various nanostructures composed of metals and dielectrics. In this study, we explored a rational design strategy for sensors using surface nanostructures comprising metals or dielectrics. Optical responses, such as reflection and transmission, and resonant electromagnetic fields were computed using a numerical method of rigorous coupled-wave analysis combined with a scattering-matrix algorithm. As a result, good performance that almost reached the physical limit was achieved using a plasmonic surface lattice structure. Furthermore, to precisely trace the refractive-index change, a scheme using two physical quantities, resonant wavelength and reflection amplitude, was found to be valid for a 2D silicon metasurface. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Nanomaterials for Sensing and Detection (2nd Edition))

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11 pages, 2051 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pixelated Filter Array for On-Chip Polarized Spectral Detection

by Yuechen Liu, Chao Feng, Siyu Dong, Jingyuan Zhu, Zhanshan Wang and Xinbin Cheng

Nanomaterials 2023, 13(19), 2624; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13192624 - 23 Sep 2023

Viewed by 1004

Abstract

On-chip multi-dimensional detection systems integrating pixelated polarization and spectral filter arrays are the latest trend in optical detection instruments, showing broad application potential for diagnostic medical imaging and remote sensing. However, thin-film or microstructure-based filter arrays typically have a trade-off between the detection dimension, optical efficiency, and spectral resolution. Here, we demonstrate novel on-chip integrated polarization spectral detection filter arrays consisting of metasurfaces and multilayer films. The metasurfaces with two nanopillars in one supercell are designed to modulate the Jones matrix for polarization selection. The angle of diffraction of the metasurfaces and the optical Fabry–Perot (FP) cavities determine the spectrum’s center wavelength. The polarization spectral filter arrays are placed on top of the CMOS sensor; each array corresponds to one pixel, resulting in high spectral resolution and optical efficiency in the selected polarization state. To verify the methodology, we designed nine-channel polarized spectral filter arrays in a wavelength range of 1350 nm to 1550 nm for transverse electric (TE) linear polarization. The array has a 10 nm balanced spectral resolution and average peak transmission efficiency of over 75%, which is maintained by utilizing lossless dielectric material. The proposed array can be fabricated using overlay e-beam lithography, and the process is CMOS-compatible. The proposed array enables broader applications of in situ on-chip polarization spectral detection with high efficiency and spectral resolution, as well as in vivo imaging systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Nanomaterials for Sensing and Detection (2nd Edition))

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