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The development of portable electronic chemical sensors is key to solving a number of challenges, including monitoring environmental and industrial hazards, as well as understanding and improving human health. Framework materials possess several desirable characteristics that make them well-suited for electroanalytical applications, including high surface area, atomically precise distribution of active sites, and tunable properties that can be leveraged through modular reticular chemistry. This review highlights the emergence of conductive framework materials as active components in electrically transduced chemical sensors, including the development of new materials for the detection of a wide variety of analytes in both gas and liquid phase. The efforts to gain fundamental understanding of the molecular interactions and sensing mechanisms between framework materials and analytes are described, along with applications of these materials on portable and flexible substrates. The review suggests areas for further study, including the study of material−analyte interactions at the molecular level and the continued development of scalable methods for the integration of framework materials into low-power, portable sensing devices.
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Loom: A Modular Open-Source Approach to Rapidly Produce Sensor, Actuator, Datalogger Systems
In the face of rising population, erratic climate, resource depletion, and increased exposure to natural hazards, environmental monitoring is increasingly important. Satellite data form most of our observations of Earth. On-the-ground observations based on in situ sensor systems are crucial for these remote measurements to be dependable. Providing open-source options to rapidly prototype environmental datalogging systems allows quick advancement of research and monitoring programs. This paper introduces Loom, a development environment for low-power Arduino-programmable microcontrollers. Loom accommodates a range of integrated components including sensors, various datalogging formats, internet connectivity (including Wi-Fi and 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE)), radio telemetry, timing mechanisms, debugging information, and power conservation functions. Additionally, Loom includes unique applications for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. By establishing modular, reconfigurable, and extensible functionality across components, Loom reduces development time for prototyping new systems. Bug fixes and optimizations achieved in one project benefit all projects that use Loom, enhancing efficiency. Although not a one-size-fits-all solution, this approach has empowered a small group of developers to support larger multidisciplinary teams designing diverse environmental sensing applications for water, soil, atmosphere, agriculture, environmental hazards, scientific monitoring, and education. This paper not only outlines the system design but also discusses alternative approaches explored and key decision points in Loom’s development.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2243964
- PAR ID:
- 10588772
- Publisher / Repository:
- MDPI
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- MDPT
- Volume:
- 24
- Issue:
- 11
- ISSN:
- 1424-8220
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 3466
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3390/s24113466
