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Chemical Sensors and Molecular Spectroscopy: Advanced Materials, Methods, and Applications
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Chemical Sensors and Molecular Spectroscopy: Advanced Materials, Methods, and Applications

A Special Issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220) belonging to the section "Chemical Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 January 2027 | Viewed by 1293

Editor

Dr. Mahesh B. Dawadi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Natural Sciences and Engineering, The University of South Carolina, Upstate, Columbia, SC, USA
Interests: molecular spectroscopy; chemical sensors; computational chemistry; nanomaterials; nanotechnology; microbiology; green chemistry; photochemistry; solar cells
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This, Special Issue, titled “Chemical Sensors and Molecular Spectroscopy: Advanced Materials, Methods, and Applications”, highlights the increased integration of chemical sensors and molecular spectroscopy. It demonstrates how spectroscopic techniques are driving substantial improvements in sensitivity, selectivity, and real-time analysis. Spectroscopic tools, including infrared (IR), Raman, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis), fluorescence, and related techniques, are increasingly integrated into chemical and biosensing platforms. These platforms provide deeper insights into sensor–analyte interactions and expand the capabilities of modern sensing systems. We are particularly interested in contributions that introduce novel sensing materials, innovative spectroscopic methods, integrated device architectures, or data-driven analytical strategies, including chemometrics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Studies may focus on fundamental mechanisms, experimental innovations, or practical applications. 

Topic of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: spectroscopic-guided sensor design; spectroscopic characterization of sensing materials and interfaces; IR, Raman, UV-Vis, fluorescence, NIR, THz, and high-resolution spectroscopic sensing; optical, electrochemical, plasmonic, and fiber-optic sensor platforms, biosensing and biomedical applications, nanomaterials and hybrid materials for sensing, and applications in environmental monitoring, biomedical diagnostics, industrial process control, and food quality assessment. Emerging sensing concepts that offer new molecular-level insights are also welcome.

This Special Issue aims to bring together interdisciplinary research linking chemical sensors with molecular spectroscopy and real-world applications across diverse fields. We invite both original research articles and comprehensive reviews that address current challenges and outline future directions of spectroscopic sensing technologies.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Chemosensors.

Dr. Mahesh B. Dawadi
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-anonymized 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

  • chemical sensors
  • biosensors
  • molecular spectroscopy
  • machine learning
  • environmental monitoring
  • biomedical diagnostics
  • industrial process control
  • food quality assessment
  • nanomaterials
  • hybrid materials, artificial intelligence
  • spectroscopic techniques
  • spectroscopic characterization
  • optical sensors
  • electrochemical sensors
  • fluorescence sensors

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 4305 KB  
Article
Bis-Pyrene-Appended Polyvinyl Chloride: Mechanosynthesis and Nitro-Explosive Detection
by Vadim A. Platonov, Leila K. Sadieva, Mikhail A. Makovskiy, Nikolay A. Belyaev, Tatiana I. Shendrikova, Artem V. Baklykov, Dmitry S. Kopchuk, Igor S. Kovalev, Grigory V. Zyryanov and Valeriy N. Charushin
Sensors 2026, 26(17), 5342; https://doi.org/10.3390/s26175342 - 24 Aug 2026
Viewed by 355
Abstract
The remote detection of nitro compounds typically requires complex analytical procedures and expensive instrumentation, often resulting in prolonged analysis times. Fluorescence-based methods, which exploit the quenching of organic fluorophores in the presence of nitro analytes, offer a more practical and efficient alternative. Particularly [...] Read more.
The remote detection of nitro compounds typically requires complex analytical procedures and expensive instrumentation, often resulting in prolonged analysis times. Fluorescence-based methods, which exploit the quenching of organic fluorophores in the presence of nitro analytes, offer a more practical and efficient alternative. Particularly promising is the use of excimer emission generated by bis-pyrene species (bis-Pyr), formed either through supramolecular interactions or covalent linkages. Regarding the latter, the integration of covalently linked bis-Pyr sensors onto polymer backbones, such as commercially available polyvinyl chloride (PVC), represents a highly attractive strategy. In this manuscript, we wish to report our recent findings on the mechanosynthesis of bis-pyrene-based PVC-supported chemosensors, and on studies of its fluorescence response towards common nitro-compound/explosive components, such as 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT), 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), taggant 2,3-dimethyl-2,3-dinitrobutane (DMDNB), pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) and 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (picric acid, PA). For DNT, a selective fluorescence “turn-off” response was observed with a Stern–Volmer quenching constant as high as 1.15 × 104 M−1. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Sensors and Molecular Spectroscopy: Advanced Materials, Methods, and Applications)
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16 pages, 1960 KB  
Article
A π-Configuration Plasmonic Dual Surface Plasmon Resonance Fiber Optic Sensor for Multi-Analyte Detection
by John Ehiabhili, Radhakrishna Prabhu and Somasundar Kannan
Sensors 2026, 26(12), 3902; https://doi.org/10.3390/s26123902 - 19 Jun 2026
Viewed by 543
Abstract
Although optical fiber-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors have revolutionized real-time, label-free biosensing, conventional designs suffer from limited multi-analyte detection capabilities. This study utilizes the novel Pi (π)-configured dual SPR optical fiber sensor with two opposing side-polished surfaces, enabling plasmonic excitation for simultaneous [...] Read more.
Although optical fiber-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors have revolutionized real-time, label-free biosensing, conventional designs suffer from limited multi-analyte detection capabilities. This study utilizes the novel Pi (π)-configured dual SPR optical fiber sensor with two opposing side-polished surfaces, enabling plasmonic excitation for simultaneous multi-analyte detection. The proposed sensor leverages asymmetric metallic thin films such as Ag, Au, Cu, and hybrid configurations (metal + TiO2) to generate two distinct resonance peaks, significantly enhancing detection versatility. Numerical simulations using the finite element method in COMSOL Multiphysics v6.3 demonstrate that the π-configuration achieves dual resonance dips at 982 nm and 1276 nm for Ag and Ag–TiO2 films, 1040 nm and 1317 nm for Au and Au–TiO2 films, and 977 nm and 1249 nm for Cu and Cu–TiO2 films, respectively, for an analyte refractive index of 1.42. A peak spectral separation >125 nm was achieved for all the sensors for a refractive index range of 1.37–1.42, ensuring that the two dips are resolvable since the change in SPR wavelength is greater than or equal to the full width at half maximum, preserving dual-analyte capability and minimizing potential crosstalk. The results indicate that the π-configured dual SPR sensor utilizing silver and silver–TiO2 sensing layers had the highest wavelength sensitivity of 12,600 nmRIU−1 and 20,000 nmRIU−1, respectively, slightly outperforming its gold and copper counterpart. The optimized metallic and hybrid nanostructured films ensure dual distinct peaks with high sensitivity, while maximizing refractive index resolution. This work presents the design of a π-configured SPR-based optical fiber sensor utilizing dielectric and multi-metallic thin films, thereby offering a breakthrough in multiplexed biosensing for applications in medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and chemical detection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Sensors and Molecular Spectroscopy: Advanced Materials, Methods, and Applications)
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