Design and Synthesis of Nanostructured Materials forSensor Applications

Abstract

There has been an increasing demand for the development of sensor devices with improved characteristics such as sensitivity, lowcost, faster response, reliability, rapider recovery, reduced size, in situ analysis, and simple operation. Nanostructured materialshave shown great potential in improving these properties for chemical and biological sensors. There are different nanostructuredmaterials which have been used in manufacturing nanosensors which include nanoscale wires (capability of high detectionsensitivity), carbon nanotubes (very high surface area and high electron conductivity), thinfilms, metal and metal oxidenanoparticles, polymer, and biomaterials. This review provides different methods which have been used in the synthesis andfabrication of these nanostructured materials followed by an extensive review of the recent developments of metal, metal oxides,carbon nanotubes, and polymer nanostructured materials in sensor applications.