Energy transmission and distribution networks face an increase in the number of electrical cables used. In such networks the occurrence of defaults given by the type of used cable, the structure and network capacity, voltage levels, and related environmental conditions is inevitable. The difficulties of predictive maintenance of power grids are related to the large spread of electrical infrastructures and the definition of early warning indicators. Such indicator is the partial discharge activities very informative about the rising insulation problems of electrical materials.  The monitoring of such phenomena is nowadays important field in the power transmission and distribution. The purpose of this paper is to study different techniques for the detection transient signals in the context of monitoring partial discharges in electrical networks. Among the various techniques developed and used for the detection of partial discharges, we will focus here on four classes of methods, encountered in existing products, for two of them, and two new techniques that are based on recent concepts: compressive sensing and phase-diagram-based analysis. The comparative study concerns the evaluation of the probability of detection versus false alarm ratio for real signals generated in a reduced scale experimental facility described in the next figure. That is, thanks to this experimental facility typical for real life configurations, we are able to add to the partial discharge signals perturbations such as load signals, reflexions but also the effect of propagation effects in a real electrical cable.

The paper-based colorimetric assays have been widely reported in literature being cost-effective, not requiring additional components (i.e. pump) for microfluidic handling of the solution, and avoiding the sample treatment thanks to the filtering property of the paper.  In the last decade, the electroanalysis has discovered the utility of using paper as electrode-active support, converging the reported advantages of paper with the features of electroanalysis such the high sensitivity, selectivity, and the capability to work in complex matrices (e.g. coloured samples).

Here in, we described the research activity carried out in the last 5 years at Nanobiosensing Lab and SENSE4MED at the Department of Chemical Science and Technologies of Tor Vergata University aimed to develop sustainable and cost-effective (bio)sensors for application in environmental, agrifood, security, and biomedical fields.

Biomass derived carbon material can act as an exclusive host template for newer electrodes which can enhance the performance of sensors. A cost effective viable production of strong, portable, sensitive and selective electrochemical sensing devices are the need of the hour for a biosensor and point of care device. It is carried out easily by bio-derived carbon structures that are synthesized by uncomplicated steps, from low-cost abundantly available renewable biomass. Depending on the properties of these new materials they can be integrated with the devices, various detection technologies can be used, where optical and electrochemical detection are the most popular. The technique is used to improve the surface properties so as to increase the electro-analytical behavior of working electrodes. This chapter includes the development of bio-based carbon materials and their application in electrochemical analysis.

Water pollution accidents caused by the lead contamination, such as Flint water crisis in the United States, strongly pushed the public to concern the safety of the drinking water distribution system. As a prerequisite, the routine monitoring of lead in water is highly required and demands for an efficient, sensitive, cost-effective, and reliable lead detection methods. This study reports a label-free colorimetric nanosensor using unmodified gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as indicators to enable rapid and ultrasensitive detection of lead in environmental water. The 8-17 DNAzyme was truncated in this study to facilitate the detachment of ssDNA fragments after the substrate cleavage upon Pb2+ presence. The detached fragments got adsorbed over AuNPs and protected their aggregation against induced salt concentration. As expected, more Pb2+ would result in a stronger color change from blue to pink. The established sensing principle achieved a sensitive limit of detection (LOD) of Pb2+ as 0.2 nM with a linear working range of two orders of magnitude from 0.5 nM to 5.0 nM. The selectivity of nanosensor was demonstrated by evaluating against interfering metal ions. The developed nanosensor can serve as a substitute for rapid analysis and monitoring trace lead levels under the drinking water distribution system and even other environmental water samples.