Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
9
Nanostructured Organic Matrices and Intelligent
Sensors
Claudio Nicolini, Manuela Adami, and Cristina Paternolli
CONTENTS
9.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................231
9.2 Intelligent Metal Sensing: The Psa Analyzer ................................................................232
9.3 Liquid Sensing Using Polymer and Nanocomposite Matrices ................................235
9.4 Nanostructured Cytochrome Matrices for Liquid Sensing ........................................237
9.5 Nanostructured Bacteriorodhopsin Matrices for Liquid Sensing ............................240
9.6 Organic Nanostructured Matrices for Gas Sensing ....................................................241
9.7 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................244
Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................................244
References ....................................................................................................................................244
9.1
Introduction
Over the last decade, (1-59) the Biophysics Institute of the University of Genova and the
Fondazione Elba in close cooperation with the Scientific and Technological Park of the
Elba Island and with numerous leading international companies (STM, ABB, Edison,
FIAT, and Elsag-Bailey) have been quite active in developing neural sensors (32,34), based
on organic (13,17) and biological (6,8,14) materials and utilizing a wide range of transduc-
ers (3,6): amperometric (6,8), potentiometric (32,34,42), conductimetric (3), nanogravimet-
ric (31), spectrophotometric (14), and fluorometric (43). Several immobilizing techniques
were also employed over the time, ranging from self-assembly (8,11), to layer by layer
(18,20) and Langmuir-Blodgett (1,2,13,16). This chapter intends to summarize the present
state of the art with emphasis on the recent nanostructuring of sensing organic matrices
and to critically assess the potential industrial relevance of intelligent sensors for a wide
variety of applications for health and environment.
231
