Seeing the Unseen: The Role of Liquid Crystals in Gas‐Sensing Technologies

Fast, real‐time detection of gases and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is an emerging research field relevant to most aspects of modern society, from households to health facilities, industrial units, and military environments. Sensor features such as high sensitivity, selectivity, fast response,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Advanced optical materials 2020-06, Vol.8 (11), p.1902117-n/a
Main Authors: Esteves, Carina, Ramou, Efthymia, Porteira, Ana Raquel Pina, Moura Barbosa, Arménio Jorge, Roque, Ana Cecília Afonso
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analytical chemistry
Energy consumption
gas sensing
Health care facilities
Households
Liquid crystals
Materials science
Military facilities
Optics
Selectivity
self‐assembly
soft functional materials
VOCs
Volatile organic compounds
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Summary:Fast, real‐time detection of gases and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is an emerging research field relevant to most aspects of modern society, from households to health facilities, industrial units, and military environments. Sensor features such as high sensitivity, selectivity, fast response, and low energy consumption are essential. Liquid crystal (LC)‐based sensors fulfill these requirements due to their chemical diversity, inherent self‐assembly potential, and reversible molecular order, resulting in tunable stimuli‐responsive soft materials. Sensing platforms utilizing thermotropic uniaxial systems—nematic and smectic—that exploit not only interfacial phenomena, but also changes in the LC bulk, are demonstrated. Special focus is given to the different interaction mechanisms and tuned selectivity toward gas and VOC analytes. Furthermore, the different experimental methods used to transduce the presence of chemical analytes into macroscopic signals are discussed and detailed examples are provided. Future perspectives and trends in the field, in particular the opportunities for LC‐based advanced materials in artificial olfaction, are also discussed. Liquid crystals are ideal components for real‐time gas sensing platforms due to their stimuli‐responsive nature. Understanding the interaction mechanisms between thermotropic liquid‐crystal sensing systems and gas analytes is crucial for accelerating research innovation and development of novel gas‐sensing platforms.
ISSN:2195-1071
2195-1071
DOI:10.1002/adom.201902117