The urban population, which is 54% of the world’s population now, is continuously increasing and expected to reach 66% by year 2050 according to the United Nations. This adds enormous stress on the urban environment, which is characterized by an increase in gaseous and liquid pollutants. Consequently, there is an increased need to monitor the environmental conditions of urban areas because of the well-known impact of ambient air on people’s health and wellbeing.

Solid state sensors have been investigated and developed for more than 30 years and are deployed in different applications and scenarios in recent years. Environmental monitoring now demands new materials, fabrication technologies and devices with improved performance.

Nanotechnologies, including nanostructured materials for sensing, chemical sensors, portable systems and commercial devices, provide a challenging opportunity to create a new generation of sensor-systems for air quality control and efficient energy systems. Functional nanomaterials (i.e. nanowires, nanotubes, graphene, nanoparticles of metal-oxide, carbon-nanostructures, large band-gap semiconductors, metals, plastics, polymers) with new sensing properties (detection at ppb-level, high sensitivity and selectivity), self-heating and durable operations for low-powered (tens of µW to tens of mW) devices are key elements in air quality measurement at indoor and outdoor level. Additionally, the sensing material can be prepared on different type of substrates (semiconductor, glass, metal, plastic, paper) with different sensing behavior.

Modeling provides a tool for tailor-made nanomaterials for specific purposes and applications. In order to realize functional improvements in packaging, both testing and aging investigations are also very important.