Downloaded by 80.82.77.83 on January 18, 2018 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: April 17, 1998 | doi: 10.1021/bk-1998-0690.pr001
Preface
THE F I E L D O F S E N S I N G T E C H N O L O G Y covers a vast area of expertise and application in various arenas. The sensor is a logical element in the infor mations-acquisition chain. Sensors provide information about our physical, chemical, and biological environments. The rapid growth in technology and its application has created a major market for various kinds of sensing devices to maintain the high quality of the final product and simultaneously to increase the yield. There is no doubt that chemical sensors and biosensors are fast-moving, critical technologies for industrial and biomedical marks. Sensors find wide ap plications in medicine (for example, blood chemistry determinations and immu nological and microbiological testing), food, agriculture, and environmental and industrial monitoring. The value of the industrial gas sensor industry is projected to more than double by 1998, with semiconductor sensors and electrochemical sensors leading the way. The total market for worldwide chemical sensors was $700 million in 1994. This market is growing at an estimated rate of 9.0% per annum. Also, efforts to reduce the risk of cross-contamination and physician l i ability risks are opening up opportunities for the manufacturers of disposable biomedical sensors. The symposium was organized to address the latest developments in sens ing technology and its application in various industries. This volume presents the missing link in chemical and biosensing technology and improvements per formed in recent years. The chapters cover a wide arena of sensors used in chemical and other related industries. The chapters in this book have been divided into four sections: diagnostics and biosensors, gas sensors and their applications, ISE and polymer-based sen sors and biosensors, and fiber optic sensors. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the diagnostic section that has not been covered in any other chapter. Chapters 2-7 deal with biosensors and their biomedical applications. Chapters 8-17 pro vide excellent information pertaining to various gas-sensing technologies for process industries. Chapters 18-21 provide an overview of the applications of polymers in sensing technology. A separate section, chapters 22-23, has been allotted to fiber optic sensors. This book should be useful to chemists, biochemists, chemical engineers, process engineers, polymer scientists, and materials scientists. It provides a good
xi Akmal and Usmani; Polymers in Sensors ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1998.
source of information to anyone interested in learning about gas sensors—their chemistry and their limitations. Scientists interested in doing research and de velopment work in diagnostics and biosensors can take advantage of the book's broad coverage of sensing technology.
Acknowledgments
Downloaded by 80.82.77.83 on January 18, 2018 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: April 17, 1998 | doi: 10.1021/bk-1998-0690.pr001
We sincerely thank all those who contributed to the successful publication of this volume. W e express our appreciation to Teledyne Electronic Technologies and Usmani Development Company (UDC) for their support. Also we acknowl edge the support provided by the staff of A C S Books. The gracious support of our families is most warmly acknowledged. NAIM A K M A L Union Carbide Technical Center 3200 Kanawha Turnpike South Charleston, WV 25303 ARTHUR M. USMANI Usmani Development Company 7318 Normandy Way Indianapolis, IN 46278
xii Akmal and Usmani; Polymers in Sensors ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1998.
