Nanosensors: Types and Customisation

The unique properties of nanoparticles are recently exploited in various areas specially for sensing purposes. Nanosensors with electrical, optical and magnetic transducers are used for highly specific and sensitive detection of various analytes. Innovative use of nanosensors in different fields has expanded the worldwide market for the devices. Nanosensors can offer advantages in various applications such as disease diagnosis, environmental pollutants monitoring, food safety testing and pharmaceutical testing. The multidisciplinary domains of nanosensing technology have opened various new prospects for fabrication, characterisation of nanoparticles, molecular chemistry and signal analysis. The possibility of developing nanosensors in portable forms and measuring any analyte in real time with a comparatively higher sensitivity than conventional methods has been responsible for increased attention towards them. The current chapter focuses on the principles behind nanosensing technology, types of nanosensors, sensing techniques and customisation of nanosensors according to molecules of interest to be analysed.