Fiber-optic chemical nanosensors by electrostatic molecular self-assembly

A review of optical fiber sensors based on nanostructured coatings fabricated by means of the layer-by-layer electrostatic-self assembly (ESA) method is presented here. The modification of the optical properties of these sensing coatings by the target parameter can induce changes in the reflected or transmitted spectrum. This property can be exploited for the development of refractometers, pH sensors, chemical sensors, biosensors and other applications. In addition to the experiments performed, the theory of some of these phenomena have been also studied in order to understand the behavior of the sensors and to improve their sensing characteristics.