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Nanotechnology Applications in Sensors Development
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Nanotechnology Applications in Sensors Development

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 October 2025 | Viewed by 4171

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Maria Lepore

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale, Università della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 80138 Napoli, Italy
Interests: fluorescence optical methods; vibrational spectroscopies; enzymatic optical biosensing; two-photon microscopy; optical properties of turbid media; biophotonics medical applications.
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Ines Delfino

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Scienze Ecologiche e Biologiche, Università degli Studi della Tuscia, I-01100 Viterbo, Italy
Interests: optical spectroscopy and microscopy; Raman and SERS techniques; light scattering methods; optical biosensing; optical sensing approaches; diagnosis and disease follow-up and study of ionizing radiation on biosystems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nanotechnologies have established new scenarios for the use of optical methods in sensing applications. The miniaturization of matter provides interesting and unique optical properties, enabling the development of new sensing schemes and devices characterized by an increased specificity and sensitivity, reliability, and adaptability, as required for innovative applicative approaches within the qualitative and quantitative determination of analytes of interest across many fields of application. These include pharmaceutical research, medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, agriculture, industry, and food safety and security. This Special Issue aims to offer an overview of the recent advances in the use of nanotechnologies for the development of optical sensors and their applications. Original research papers and review articles working within this realm are welcomed, showcasing the variety of recent advancements in various fields and their extensive distribution. We encourage you to contact us if you have any questions or would like to discuss your potential contribution in advance.

We look forward to and welcome your participation in this Special Issue.

Dr. Maria Lepore
Dr. Ines Delfino
Guest Editors

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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

  • nanoparticles, multilayer, core–shell-type nanoparticles for sensing applications
  • nanopatterning of surfaces, surface functionalization, and the self-assembling of structures
  • organization of nanoparticles into periodic or aperiodic functional structures for nanoscale probes, sensors, and devices
  • semiconductor quantum dot technology for sensor development
  • metallic nanoparticles and nanorods for biosensing
  • up-converting nanophores
  • nanosensors for in vitro bioanalysis
  • nanotechnologies for Raman, SERS, and SEIRA sensing
  • fluorescence-based nanosensors
  • DNA-based nanosensors
  • multimodal nanosensors
  • plasmonic nanosensors

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 3220 KiB  
Article
Utilizing Freeze-Thaw-Ultrasonication to Prepare Mesoporous Silica-Encapsulated Colloidal Silver Nanoaggregates with Long-Term Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Activity
by Shuoyang Yan, Ling Chen and Zhiyang Zhang
Sensors 2025, 25(6), 1840; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25061840 - 15 Mar 2025
Viewed by 304
Abstract
Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is widely employed due to its high sensitivity and distinctive fingerprinting capabilities. Colloidal nanoaggregates are commonly used as SERS substrates because of their mobility and the abundance of “hotspots”. Although the reagent-free “freeze-thaw-ultrasonication” method for preparing Ag nanoaggregates (AgNAs) [...] Read more.
Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is widely employed due to its high sensitivity and distinctive fingerprinting capabilities. Colloidal nanoaggregates are commonly used as SERS substrates because of their mobility and the abundance of “hotspots”. Although the reagent-free “freeze-thaw-ultrasonication” method for preparing Ag nanoaggregates (AgNAs) does not introduce additional background interference and maintains the original interfacial properties of AgNAs, their unstable physical nanostructure limits SERS detection to just 7 days. Herein, we demonstrate mesoporous silica-encapsulated colloidal Ag nanoaggregates (AgNAs@m-SiO2) by combining a freeze-thaw-ultrasonication method and a cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)-assisted silanization reaction, achieving long-term SERS stability of more than two months. The prepared AgNAs@m-SiO2 serve a dual capability: (1) preserving electromagnetic “hotspots” for ultra-sensitive detection (e.g., malachite green detection limit: 3.60 × 10−8 M), and (2) maintaining structural stability under harsh conditions. The AgNAs@m-SiO2 substrate exhibited superior structural stability after 50 min of ultrasonic treatment, with an initial SERS signal retention of 91.8%, which is twice that of the bare AgNAs (retention of 45%). The long-term performance further highlighted its superiority: after 70 days of storage, the composite maintained 84.3% of its original signal strength, outperforming the uncoated controls by over ten times (which retained only 8%). Crucially, the substrate’s robust design enables the direct detection of contaminants in real environmental matrices (river and seawater) for qualitative analyses and water quality assessments, thus validating its suitability for environmental sensing applications in the field. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanotechnology Applications in Sensors Development)
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19 pages, 5238 KiB  
Article
In Situ Raman Spectroscopy for Early Corrosion Detection in Coated AA2024-T3
by Adrienne K. Delluva, Ronald L. Cook, Matt Peppel, Sami Diaz, Rhia M. Martin, Vinh T. Nguyen, Jeannine E. Elliott and Joshua R. Biller
Sensors 2025, 25(1), 179; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25010179 - 31 Dec 2024
Viewed by 826
Abstract
Here we describe the synthesis and evaluation of a molecular corrosion sensor that can be applied in situ in aerospace coatings, then used to detect corrosion after the coating has been applied. A pH-sensitive molecule, 4-mercaptopyridin (4-MP), is attached to a gold nanoparticle [...] Read more.
Here we describe the synthesis and evaluation of a molecular corrosion sensor that can be applied in situ in aerospace coatings, then used to detect corrosion after the coating has been applied. A pH-sensitive molecule, 4-mercaptopyridin (4-MP), is attached to a gold nanoparticle to allow surface-enhanced Raman-scattering (SERS) for signal amplification. These SERS nanoparticles, when combined with an appropriate micron-sized carrier system, are incorporated directly into an MIL-SPEC coating and used to monitor the process onset and progression of corrosion using pH changes occurring at the metal–coating interface. The sensor can track corrosion spatially as it proceeds underneath the coating, due to the mobility of the proton front generated during corrosion and the homogeneous distribution of the sensor in the coating layer. To our knowledge, this report is the first time a 4-MP functionalized gold nanoparticle has been used, along with SERS spectroscopy, to monitor corrosion in an applied commercial coating in a fast, non-contact way. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanotechnology Applications in Sensors Development)
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11 pages, 2825 KiB  
Article
Synthesis of 2MP-CuNPs Fluorescent Probes and Their Application in Tetracycline Detection
by Qiaoya Dou, Zulpiye Hasanjan and Hongyan Zhang
Sensors 2024, 24(22), 7325; https://doi.org/10.3390/s24227325 - 16 Nov 2024
Viewed by 645
Abstract
A fluorescent probe composed of 2-mercaptopyridine–copper nanoparticles (2MP-CuNPs) was synthesized through a hydrothermal method utilizing CuCl2 and 2-mercaptopyridine (2MP). The experimental results indicate that the 2MP-CuNPs probe exhibited an excellent fluorescence emission peak at 525 nm with an excitation wavelength of 200 [...] Read more.
A fluorescent probe composed of 2-mercaptopyridine–copper nanoparticles (2MP-CuNPs) was synthesized through a hydrothermal method utilizing CuCl2 and 2-mercaptopyridine (2MP). The experimental results indicate that the 2MP-CuNPs probe exhibited an excellent fluorescence emission peak at 525 nm with an excitation wavelength of 200 nm. Furthermore, this emission peak was accompanied by a substantial Stokes shift of 325 nm, which effectively minimized the overlap between the excitation and emission spectra, thereby enhancing detection sensitivity. In tetracycline (TC) detection, the dimethylamino group on TC undergoes protonation in acidic conditions, resulting in a H+ ion. Consequently, the nitrogen atom within the pyridine moiety of the 2MP-CuNPs probe forms a coordination complex with H+ via multi-toothed n-bonding interactions, leading to a significant reduction in fluorescence intensity at 525 nm. Based on this mechanism, a quantitative detection method for TC was successfully established with a linear range spanning from 0.1 to 240 µM and an impressive detection limit of 120 nM. Furthermore, during actual sample analyses involving milk and chicken feed, this analysis method based on the 2MP-CuNPs probe achieved absolute recovery rates ranging from 94% to 98%, underscoring its considerable potential for practical applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanotechnology Applications in Sensors Development)
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13 pages, 3795 KiB  
Article
Novel, Cost Effective, and Reliable Method for Thermal Conductivity Measurement
by Marian Janek, Jozef Kudelcik, Stefan Hardon and Miroslav Gutten
Sensors 2024, 24(22), 7269; https://doi.org/10.3390/s24227269 - 14 Nov 2024
Viewed by 870
Abstract
This study describes the development and utilization of a novel setup for measuring the thermal conductivity of polyurethane composites with various nanoparticle contents. Measurements were conducted using both an experimental setup and a professional instrument, the TPS 2500 S, with results demonstrating high [...] Read more.
This study describes the development and utilization of a novel setup for measuring the thermal conductivity of polyurethane composites with various nanoparticle contents. Measurements were conducted using both an experimental setup and a professional instrument, the TPS 2500 S, with results demonstrating high agreement with the precision of the measurements. The setup was further validated using a standard reference material with a thermal conductivity of 0.200 W/m/K. Additionally, the reliability of the setup was confirmed by its stability against ambient temperature variations between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius. This research presents a cost-effective method for measuring the thermal conductivity of polyurethane composites. Data processing involves noise reduction and smoothing techniques to ensure reliable results. The setup offers 5% accuracy and proves to be versatile for both research and educational applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanotechnology Applications in Sensors Development)
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13 pages, 2474 KiB  
Article
Exploiting Temporal Features in Calculating Automated Morphological Properties of Spiky Nanoparticles Using Deep Learning
by Muhammad Aasim Rafique
Sensors 2024, 24(20), 6541; https://doi.org/10.3390/s24206541 - 10 Oct 2024
Viewed by 736
Abstract
Object segmentation in images is typically spatial and focuses on the spatial coherence of pixels. Nanoparticles in electron microscopy images are also segmented frame by frame, with subsequent morphological analysis. However, morphological analysis is inherently sequential, and a temporal regularity is evident in [...] Read more.
Object segmentation in images is typically spatial and focuses on the spatial coherence of pixels. Nanoparticles in electron microscopy images are also segmented frame by frame, with subsequent morphological analysis. However, morphological analysis is inherently sequential, and a temporal regularity is evident in the process. In this study, we extend the spatially focused morphological analysis by incorporating a fusion of hard and soft inductive bias from sequential machine learning techniques to account for temporal relationships. Previously, spiky Au nanoparticles (Au-SNPs) in electron microscopy images were analyzed, and their morphological properties were automatically generated using a hourglass convolutional neural network architecture. In this study, recurrent layers are integrated to capture the natural, sequential growth of the particles. The network is trained with a spike-focused loss function. Continuous segmentation of the images explores the regressive relationships among natural growth features, generating morphological statistics of the nanoparticles. This study comprehensively evaluates the proposed approach by comparing the results of segmentation and morphological properties analysis, demonstrating its superiority over earlier methods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanotechnology Applications in Sensors Development)
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