Singh Sundeep, Melnik Roderick
MS2Discovery Interdisciplinary Research Institute, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5, Canada;
Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada.
Chemosensors (Basel). 2022 Apr 25;10(5):157. doi: 10.3390/chemosensors10050157. eCollection 2022 May.
Low-dimensional nanostructures have many advantages when used in sensors compared to the traditional bulk materials, in particular in their sensitivity and specificity. In such nanostructures, the motion of carriers can be confined from one, two, or all three spatial dimensions, leading to their unique properties. New advancements in nanosensors, based on low-dimensional nanostructures, permit their functioning at scales comparable with biological processes and natural systems, allowing their efficient functionalization with chemical and biological molecules. In this article, we provide details of such sensors, focusing on their several important classes, as well as the issues of their designs based on mathematical and computational models covering a range of scales. Such multiscale models require state-of-the-art techniques for their solutions, and we provide an overview of the associated numerical methodologies and approaches in this context. We emphasize the importance of accounting for coupling between different physical fields such as thermal, electromechanical, and magnetic, as well as of additional nonlinear and nonlocal effects which can be salient features of new applications and sensor designs. Our special attention is given to nanowires and nanotubes which are well suited for nanosensor designs and applications, being able to carry a double functionality, as transducers and the media to transmit the signal. One of the key properties of these nanostructures is an enhancement in sensitivity resulting from their high surface-to-volume ratio, which leads to their geometry-dependant properties. This dependency requires careful consideration at the modelling stage, and we provide further details on this issue. Another important class of sensors analyzed here is pertinent to sensor and actuator technologies based on smart materials. The modelling of such materials in their dynamics-enabled applications represents a significant challenge as we have to deal with strongly nonlinear coupled problems, accounting for dynamic interactions between different physical fields and microstructure evolution. Among other classes, important in novel sensor applications, we have given our special attention to heterostructures and nucleic acid based nanostructures. In terms of the application areas, we have focused on chemical and biomedical fields, as well as on green energy and environmentally-friendly technologies where the efficient designs and opportune deployments of sensors are both urgent and compelling.
与传统的块状材料相比，低维纳米结构在传感器中使用时具有许多优势，特别是在灵敏度和特异性方面。在这种纳米结构中，载流子的运动可以在一个、两个或所有三个空间维度上受到限制，从而导致其独特的性质。基于低维纳米结构的纳米传感器的新进展使其能够在与生物过程和自然系统相当的尺度上发挥作用，从而允许它们与化学和生物分子进行有效的功能化。在本文中，我们详细介绍了此类传感器，重点介绍了它们的几个重要类别，以及基于涵盖一系列尺度的数学和计算模型的设计问题。这种多尺度模型需要最先进的技术来求解，我们在此背景下概述了相关的数值方法和途径。我们强调考虑不同物理场（如热、机电和磁）之间耦合的重要性，以及额外的非线性和非局部效应，这些效应可能是新应用和传感器设计的显著特征。我们特别关注纳米线和纳米管，它们非常适合纳米传感器的设计和应用，能够兼具换能器和信号传输介质的双重功能。这些纳米结构的关键特性之一是由于其高表面积与体积比而导致的灵敏度增强，这导致了它们与几何形状相关的特性。这种依赖性在建模阶段需要仔细考虑，我们将提供有关此问题的更多详细信息。这里分析的另一类重要传感器与基于智能材料的传感器和致动器技术相关。在其动态应用中对此类材料进行建模是一项重大挑战，因为我们必须处理强非线性耦合问题，考虑不同物理场之间的动态相互作用和微观结构演变。在新型传感器应用中重要的其他类别中，我们特别关注了异质结构和基于核酸的纳米结构。在应用领域方面我们重点关注了化学和生物医学领域，以及绿色能源和环保技术领域，在这些领域中传感器的高效设计和适时部署既紧迫又迫切。
