Introduction to polymer composite-based sensors

This introductory chapter reviews and discusses the evolving application of polymers as pH sensors, gas sensors, ion-selective sensors, humidity sensors, biosensor devices, and so on, in a thorough and cumulative fashion. Polymers are finding a permanent role in advanced electronic measuring equipment such as sensor devices, as their physicochemical behaviors can be tuned to a wide variety of features. Both inherently conducting and nonconducting polymers are utilized in sensor devices, and the polymers either are part of the actual sensing mechanism or they immobilize the component that does the sensing. Present sensor developments as well as prospective sensor research issues are reviewed.