Sustainable Development of Metal Oxide Nanomaterials for Sensors Applications

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About this Research Topic

Submission deadlines

  1. Manuscript Submission Deadline 31 December 2024

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Background

Nanomaterials possess unique and enhanced chemical, physical and mechanical properties when compared to their bulk counterparts due to their high specific surface area and surface-to-volume ratio. The nanoparticles of metal oxides are used for adsorption processes due to the fact that they exhibit remarkable surface characteristics and high surface area. The active sites and high surface area enable effective adsorption events. Surface-to-volume ratio is increased when materials are brought down to size from bulk to the nanoscale. The surface energy of adsorbent materials is increased by reducing the size and more active sites on their surface are available for gas molecules to interact. Thus, nanomaterials show better adsorption capacity compared to the bulkier counterparts. Nanoparticles of metal oxides are extensively studied for Sensing Application. This is because of the property of the materials that change radically when the size of the materials reaches to nanoscale range.

Nanomaterials can occur in several morphologies ranging from nanorods, nanowires, nanowhiskers, nanoflakes, nanocubes, nanopillars, nanosheets, nanotubes, nanospheres, and others. Nanomaterials are largely investigated in sensing application because of it low cost, chemically stable with suitable electrical and optical characteristics. During the development of sensing application, various sensing materials including carbon materials, biomolecules, conductive polymers and inorganic nanomaterials were used. Among these materials, metal-oxide nanomaterials are promising candidates in diverse areas of chemistry, materials science, physics and biotechnology. The unique electronic structure determines the conductor, semiconductor and insulator properties of nanomaterials. Especially, for sensing materials, metal oxide nanomaterials, CuO, Cu2O, SnO, SnO2, ZnO, TiO2, NiO, In2O3, WO3 , V2O5 are promising candidates to improve their high sensitivity, fast response/recovery time, excellent reproducibility, functionality, stability and cost-effectiveness with simple fabrication processes. As a result, metal oxide nanomaterials have a wide range of applications, sensors, fuel cells, batteries, actuators, supercapacitors, optical devices, pyroelectrics, piezoelectric and ferroelectrics due to their shape and size, which manifest characteristic of physicochemical properties.

A sensor is an electronic device that defects and responds from physical parameters to output, and has many domestic, commercial, and industrial applications from homes and stores to factories and building premises. The utilisation of metal oxides, the capacity of sensors is expanded further to detect the quality of water, monitoring air such as the speed of the wind etc. A prominent case of this is the use of portable and flexible metal oxides in gas sensors. This gas sensing technology is largely spread in different industrial fields, but also in domestic environments, some examples are the automotive industry, for indoor air quality control, greenhouse gas monitoring, among others. The most important parameters of gas sensor devices are their sensitivity, operating temperature, selectivity, long-term stability, energy consumption, reversibility, low humidity dependence and finally production cost. Gas sensors are classified in different types such as optical, electrochemical, capacitance based, calorimetric, acoustic based, and metal oxide-based gas sensor. Furthermore, the sensing applications of metal oxides, including in biosensors, is growing fast in recent years in analytical chemistry uses in health-care industry, food quality and safety, but also from environmental monitoring.

Therefore, we aim to review the true advantage of emerging sensor technology and its applications using metal oxide nanomaterials. These nanomaterials already have great potential as the key materials in sensor technology. In addition, metal oxide nanomaterials exhibit unique electrical, thermal, optical, and mechanical properties that can inspire new concepts for sensing technology.

This research topic article collection aims to bring together state-of-the-art interdisciplinary research in the above context of sensor technology. We invite innovative/original research articles, and review articles on relevant topics with the following research topics for submission, but are not limited to the following research interests:

- Nanomaterials synthesis and characterization.
- 1D and 2D nanometerials
- Microporous and mesoporous materials.
- Composite materials.
- Application of Nanomaterials.
- Electrical properties of nanomaterials.
- Physical sensors (optoelectronic sensors, mechanic sensors, thermal sensors, magnetic sensors, mass sensors, etc.)
- Chemical sensors, Electrochemical sensor, Gas sensor and Biosensors.
- Sensors in industrial application.
- Sensing principles and mechanisms.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

  • Brief Research Report
  • Community Case Study
  • Conceptual Analysis
  • Data Report
  • Editorial
  • General Commentary
  • Hypothesis and Theory
  • Methods
  • Mini Review

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

  • Brief Research Report
  • Community Case Study
  • Conceptual Analysis
  • Data Report
  • Editorial
  • General Commentary
  • Hypothesis and Theory
  • Methods
  • Mini Review
  • Opinion
  • Original Research
  • Perspective
  • Policy and Practice Reviews
  • Review
  • Study Protocol
  • Systematic Review
  • Technology and Code

Keywords: Nanomaterials, Metal Oxide, Composite Materials, Sensors, Sensing principles

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