ABSTRACT
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
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 transducers (3,6): amperometric (6,8), potentiometric (32,34,42), conductimetric (3), nanogravimetric (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.
