Functional Polymer Materials for Environmental Monitoring and Safety Applications

This chapter enumerates polymer functionalized nanostructured materials for the sensing of environmentally toxic substances such as heavy metal ions, pesticides and other phenolic compounds along with food safety applications. Among the variety of functional polymer composites, conducting polymers, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), and biopolymer composites are found to be promising materials in a variety of environmental monitoring sensors and food safety applications. The various polymers were used to functionalize with metal nanoparticles, metal oxide nanoparticles, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), quantum dots (QDs), graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The resulting materials were used as electrode modifiers/electrocatalysts and nanozymes for electrochemical or optical sensing systems. The optical properties include naked eye colour change, absorption and emission of the composites. These materials are also used to fabricate materials for safety applications like monitoring the quality of food during package and transport.