Optochemical Nanosensors

Optochemical Nanosensors overviews the state of the art in optical and chemical nanosensors for industrial, environmental, diagnostic, security, and medical applications. It summarizes the various types and developments in optical and chemical sensor technology and then explains how the integration of optical/chemical sensors and nanomaterials creates new opportunities in research and development. The book also reviews optochemical sensors, starting from the basics in optoelectronics and concluding with the principles of operation at the basis of optochemical devices. The authors offer insight into future trends in this growing field and present a range of applications in the fields of medicine, security, and bioterrorism.

Nanosized sensors enable the study of chemical and biochemical processes at a level and in dimensions that may not have been envisioned some 20 years ago. Fueled by their inherent small size and the unusual optical, magnetic, catalytic, and mechanical properties of nanoparticles, remarkable progress has been made in recent years in the development and utilization of nanosensors and optical nanotechnology will further widen the field. However, the design of new sensors requires new materials, new methods for their characterization, new optical sensing schemes, new approaches for creating nanosized structures, and new techniques for their interrogation in complex environments such as small living cells for studying biological signals or big public spaces for environmental monitoring .

Optochemical Nanosensors covers the rapidly growing field of optical chemical nanosensing, a new and exciting area of research and development within the large field of optical chemical sensing and biosensing. Its many applications, including the detection of bioterrorist threats, food security, virology, explosive detection and more, are covered in these self-contained yet interrelated chapters. The book reviews optochemical sensors, starting from the basics in optoelectronicsand concluding with the presentation of diverse nanosensors. The authors offer insight into future trends in this growing field and present applications in the fields of medicine, security, and bioterrorism.