Review of Portable and Low-Cost Sensors for the Ambient Air Monitoring of Benzene and Other Volatile Organic Compounds.

This article presents a literature review of sensors for the monitoring of benzene in ambient air and other volatile organic compounds. Combined with information provided by stakeholders, manufacturers and literature, the review considers commercially available sensors, including PID-based sensors, semiconductor (resistive gas sensors) and portable on-line measuring devices as for example sensor arrays. The bibliographic collection includes the following topics: sensor description, field of application at fixed sites, indoor and ambient air monitoring, range of concentration levels and limit of detection in air, model descriptions of the phenomena involved in the sensor detection process, gaseous interference selectivity of sensors in complex VOC matrix, validation data in lab experiments and under field conditions.

Next Generation Air Quality Platform: Openness and Interoperability for the Internet of Things.

The widespread diffusion of sensors, mobile devices, social media and open data are reconfiguring the way data underpinning policy and science are being produced and consumed. This in turn is creating both opportunities and challenges for policy-making and science. There can be major benefits from the deployment of the IoT in smart cities and environmental monitoring, but to realize such benefits, and reduce potential risks, there is an urgent need to address current limitations, including the interoperability of sensors, data quality, security of access and new methods for spatio-temporal analysis. Within this context, the manuscript provides an overview of the AirSensEUR project, which establishes an affordable open software/hardware multi-sensor platform, which is nonetheless able to monitor air pollution at low concentration levels. AirSensEUR is described from the perspective of interoperable data management with emphasis on possible use case scenarios, where reliable and timely air quality data would be essential.

Indigo molecules adsorbed on carbonaceous nanomaterials as chemical filter for the selective detection of NO2 in the environment.

In order to enhance the durability of chemical filters for ozone molecules, devoted to microsystem for the selective detection of NO2 in the environment, the adsorption of indigo molecules onto the surface of carbonaceous nanomaterials (multi-walled carbon nanotubes, a mixture of nanodisks/nanocones, nanofibres) was investigated. The surface of the multi-walled carbon nanotubes was coated by π-stacking with adsorbed indigo molecules. An excess of indigo has resulted in a biphasic sample where nanotubes covered with indigo coexist with free indigo particles. Although similar filtering yields toward O3 (close to 100%) and NO2 (around 0%) were obtained as compared to individual materials, the indigo/MWCNTs samples exhibit enhanced durability as chemical filter at high ozone concentration (1 ppm).

The use of nanocarbons as chemical filters for the selective detection of nitrogen dioxide and ozone.

The gas filtering abilities of different nanocarbon materials such as nanocones/nanodiscs, and nanofibres, either as-prepared or modified by physical (annealing, grinding) or chemical (fluorination) treatment are reported. The aptitude to filter nitrogen dioxide and ozone, two of the most significant gaseous pollutants of the atmosphere, have been correlated to both the BET specific surface area studied by N2 adsorption at 77 K, and the presence of chemical functional groups at the surface. Valuable information regarding the mechanisms of gas-nanocarbon interaction has been obtained, in terms of chemisorption and physisorption. A prototype microsystem is proposed for the selective measurement of nitrogen dioxide and ozone concentration by means of organic semiconductor gas sensors.