Carbon-Based Nanomaterials as Novel Nanosensors [Editorial]

In recent years, nanosensor technology has experienced a rapid development because of the extensive scientific efforts in understanding of nanoscale phenomena and achieving innovative nanofabrication techniques. Carbon-based nanomaterials (CBNs), such as fullerenes, graphene, nanodiamonds, carbon nanotubes, and carbon nanodots, have recently gained considerable attention among scientific communities due to their unique chemical and physical properties. Thanks to intensive research efforts, the CBNs have found their place in a wide range of applications. These CBNs stand out as novel nanosensors due to their supreme performance in detecting heavy metal ions, gas molecules, food additives, antibodies, and toxic pesticides, as well as reporters for bioimaging. This special issue, to be published in 2017, addresses recent progress in the synthesis, characterization, structure-property relationships and applications of CBNs as novel nanosensors. We are confident that the accrual of these contributions will facilitate the applications of CBNs as innovative nanosensors in meeting the urgent needs for environmental monitoring, food safety control, healthcare, homeland security, and so forth. We have selected five papers, representing four different frontiers of this topic: graphene, silver nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, and carbon nanodots.