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Advanced Sensing Technologies for Environmental Applications

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sensing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 1687

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
ENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Department for Sustainability, Division of Technologies and Advanced Materials for Sustainable Manufacturing Industry—Brindisi Research Center, Brindisi, Italy
Interests: sensor materials; functional materials; gas sensors; chemical sensors; air-quality sensor systems; sensor technology development; environmental measurements; urban air-quality sensor networks; smart city applications; environmental sustainability; environmental sensing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sensor technologies are crucial for environmental monitoring and sustainability applications. Recent progress in sensing technologies includes advanced functional materials, sustainable materials, integrated transducers, AI-enabled sensors, smart sensor systems, multi-sensor data fusion, wireless sensor networks and more for boosting environmental research and innovation. However, most accurate sensors and enhanced data quality are still open questions for environmental sensing.

Networked sensor systems have been largely used for air-quality monitoring, noise monitoring, water monitoring, and soil monitoring in urban and rural environments.

Current trends in environmental technologies explore integrated sensors, mobile sensing, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), satellite monitoring, environmental forecasting and predictive digital models.

Emerging applications of the environmental sensors include remediation, the recovery of critical raw materials, geographic information system (GIS) mapping, environmental digital twin, protection, detection and sustainability. Case studies, new concepts, proofs and trends in environmental sensing are highly welcomed to depict world-class research.

In this Special Issue, we kindly invite front-line scientists to submit original research articles and/or featured reviews on exploring Advanced Sensing Technologies for Environmental Applications.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Chemical sensors (toxic gases, volatile organic compounds)
  • Chemo-physical sensors (greenhouse gases, particulate matter)
  • Biochemical sensors (pathogens, pollen, bioagents)
  • Advanced transducing platforms for environmental sensing
  • Wireless environmental sensor networks
  • Sensor systems for air-quality monitoring
  • Sensor systems for noise monitoring
  • Sensor systems for water monitoring
  • Sensor systems for soil monitoring
  • Multi-sensor data fusion and machine learning for environmental sensing
  • AI-enabled sensors for environmental monitoring
  • IoT environmental applications
  • Environment monitoring and big data acquisition
  • Integrated environmental sensing technologies
  • Mobile sensing for environmental applications
  • Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for environmental monitoring applications
  • Satellite environmental monitoring
  • Environmental forecasting and predictive digital models
  • Sensor technologies for environmental remediation
  • Sensor technologies for recovery of critical raw materials
  • Sensor technologies for geographic information system (GIS) applications
  • Sensor technologies for environmental digital twin
  • Advanced materials for environmental sensing and protection
  • Case studies of environmental detection and sustainability
  • New concepts, proofs and trends in environmental sensing

Prof. Dr. Michele Penza
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Sensors 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 2600 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

  • environmental chemical sensors
  • environmental smart sensors
  • environmental sensor systems
  • environmental wireless sensor networks
  • mobile sensing and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
  • satellite environmental monitoring
  • environmental forecasting
  • sensor technologies for IoT environmental applications
  • sensor technologies for environmental digital twin
  • advanced materials and sustainable materials
  • case studies of environmental sustainability
  • new concepts in environmental sensing

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 2774 KB  
Article
Combined Dielectric Spectroscopy and Operando DRIFTS Analysis of Ba-Based NOx Storage Materials for Radio-Frequency-Based NOx Dosimeters
by Daniela Schönauer-Kamin, Fabian Fütterer, Johanna Baumgärtner, Thomas Wöhrl, Gunter Hagen and Ralf Moos
Sensors 2026, 26(10), 3203; https://doi.org/10.3390/s26103203 - 19 May 2026
Viewed by 201
Abstract
This study investigates the dielectric behavior and NOx storage properties of Pt/Ba–Al2O3 NOx storage materials using microwave cavity perturbation, operando DRIFTS, and impedance spectroscopy with respect to their applicability in a radio-frequency-based NOx dosimeter-type sensor. Dielectric losses [...] Read more.
This study investigates the dielectric behavior and NOx storage properties of Pt/Ba–Al2O3 NOx storage materials using microwave cavity perturbation, operando DRIFTS, and impedance spectroscopy with respect to their applicability in a radio-frequency-based NOx dosimeter-type sensor. Dielectric losses (ε″) are identified as the most sensitive indicator of NOx storage, exhibiting a clear linear correlation with both the accumulated NOx dose and the utilization of Ba storage sites. Approximately 35% of the available Ba sites participate in nitrite and nitrate formation, and the absolute dielectric loss response increases proportionally with the Ba content of the NOx storage catalyst. In contrast, the permittivity (ε′) shows only minor changes, which are mainly influenced by temperature. Temperature-dependent experiments reveal stable NOx storage with negligible desorption up to 350 °C, whereas pronounced desorption processes at 400 °C significantly limit the linear dosimeter behavior. Operando DRIFTS measurements on Pt/Ba–Al2O3 functional films confirm temperature-dependent formation of nitrites and nitrates, with nitrates dominating the NOx storage at elevated temperatures. Capacitance measurements show a slight increase during NOx storage, indicating a moderate increase in permittivity. Overall, Pt/Ba–Al2O3 NOx storage materials exhibit a robust, quantitatively interpretable dielectric response that is well suited for radio-frequency-based, dosimeter-type NOx sensing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Sensing Technologies for Environmental Applications)
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17 pages, 2649 KB  
Article
FRESH: An Autonomous IoT Platform for Multi-Parameter Environmental Sensing and Short-Term Forecasting
by Feiling Pan and James A. Covington
Sensors 2026, 26(10), 3015; https://doi.org/10.3390/s26103015 - 10 May 2026
Viewed by 829
Abstract
Environmental monitoring systems are often constrained by high cost, limited portability, restricted pollutant coverage, and dependence on fixed infrastructure, which can limit their suitability for distributed real-time sensing. This study presents FRESH, an autonomous Internet of Things (IoT)-based platform for multi-parameter environmental monitoring [...] Read more.
Environmental monitoring systems are often constrained by high cost, limited portability, restricted pollutant coverage, and dependence on fixed infrastructure, which can limit their suitability for distributed real-time sensing. This study presents FRESH, an autonomous Internet of Things (IoT)-based platform for multi-parameter environmental monitoring and short-term forecasting. The system integrates sensors for air quality, thermal conditions, light, acoustics, and weather, together with GSM-based remote data transmission, onboard data logging, and hybrid battery–solar power management. FRESH was deployed across multiple indoor and outdoor locations in Coventry and at the University of Warwick, UK, and operated over a 10-month period to assess practical performance under varied environmental conditions. In addition to continuous environmental sensing, machine learning models were developed to predict short-term changes in selected environmental variables. Across the tested models, the best predictive performance was obtained for several key parameters, including particulate matter (R2 = 0.93), volatile organic compounds (R2 = 0.92), and ozone (R2 = 0.98). The results suggest that FRESH has potential to support portable, multi-parameter environmental monitoring with integrated short-horizon forecasting, providing a basis for further development of distributed sensing and localised early-warning applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Sensing Technologies for Environmental Applications)
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