TABLE OF CONTENTS All of the types of sensors discussed in this book - electrochemical sensors, optical sensors, acoustic sensors and biosensors - are getting smaller, faster and more accurate as researchers continue to strive towards creating "ideal" sensors. There are even now sensors that are genuinely autonomous and wireless being used in environmental monitoring applications. Medical devices with sensing technology are now on the market that are pocket-sized, with disposable test-strips and can be used "anytime, anywhere". DNA chips and other biochips already allow infectious diseases or genetic alterations associated with many cancers to be detected. It seems likely that electrochemical and optical detection of mutations in human DNA using microarrays will continue to develop so as to offer high speed biomedical diagnostic results. In the food and drink industry, there are sensors throughout the various processes to ensure that the products we buy are safe and fresh.
Many key problems in chemical sensing will be solved by the availability of new and exciting fabrication techniques, miniaturization and microfluidics and the surge of interest and developments in communications technology. Novel detection approaches will also appear; for example, a number of papers have appeared describing the detection of analytes based on principles traditionally associated with biological systems or semiconductors. The creation of highly selective electrochemical sensors relies on the ability to manipulate ensembles of molecules so as to achieve a selective response toward a target analyte. Molecular self-assembly will become an increasingly important approach to engineering sensor materials with useful electrochemical...
