Chemical Sensors development and applications

Scope

Chemical sensors based on electrical and electrochemical transduction principles have attracted intensive research interest in the past years and have been used for a wide range of applications, due to their numerous advantages, like small sizes, high sensitivities in detecting very low concentrations of gas in gaseous mixtures or analytes in liquids (at ppb and nanomolar concentration level, or less, respectively), possibility of on-line measurements and low cost.

Nowadays, modern technology is demanding more efficient chemical sensors for advanced applications able to work in gaseous/liquid environments. Consequently, there is a considerable effort towards the goal of high performance devices with enhanced integration into electronic circuitry employing microelectronics technology. These mass-produced chemical sensors could open up mass markets for the industry and the environmental monitoring, the automotive and biomedicine field.

The development of nanotechnology has created enormous potential to develop highly sensitive, low cost, portable sensors with low power consumption. The sensor miniaturization could lead to new extensive applications, for examples in cell phones and watches, then affecting our everyday lives. Thus, great efforts in the ongoing research are directed to the synthesis of sensing materials with peculiar nanostructures, because of their high surface-to-volume ratio, charge confinement ability and improved electronic/electrochemical properties.

The proposed Technical Committee aims to (But it is Not Limited To):

  • Promote the collaboration among multidisciplinary research groups.
  • Support the organization of seminars and technical events on development, application and metrological characterization issues of chemical sensors.
  • Collaborate with industries about sensor development at large scale issues and new applications in the market.

Support young researchers on innovation aspects of chemical sensors as well as new ideas, sensing materials/structures even expressed at theoretical and modeling level.

Chair

Nicola Donato received the M.S. in Electronic Engineering and Ph.D. Degrees from University of Messina and University of Palermo, in 1997 and 2002, respectively. His research interests are focused on gas sensor characterization and modeling, development of measurement systems for sensors, characterization of electronic device up to microwave range down to cryogenic operating temperatures. He developed several monitoring system based on sensors and custom electronics equipped with microcontrollers, mainly focused for security, environmental and automotive applications. Actually, he is associate professor of electrical and electronic measurements and head of the laboratories of “Electronics for Sensors and for System of Transduction” and “Electrical and Electronic Measurements” at University of Messina. He is the author of more than 150 papers on international journals and senior member of IEEE. He is also member of the Italian Scientific Council of the Microwave Engineering Center for Space Applications (MECSA).