Advances in nanomaterials for energy and sensing applications: from fundamentals to device

Abstract Nanomaterials have emerged as essential components for next-generation technologies owing to their quantum-driven properties, high surface-area-to-volume ratios, and tunable structures, which enable functionalities that surpass those of bulk materials. These unique attributes are particularly advantageous for applications requiring efficient energy conversion, storage, and highly sensitive detection. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in nanomaterials relevant to energy and sensing applications, focusing on key classes of nanostructured materials, including two-dimensional materials, quantum dots, metal-organic frameworks, and perovskites. It elucidates how fundamental nanoscale characteristics contribute to enhanced device performance while bridging insights from laboratory-scale studies to real-world applications. The review examines synthetic strategies, surface modification approaches, and heterostructure engineering techniques that allow precise control over nanomaterial properties, leading to improvements in charge transport, catalytic activity, stability, and selectivity across a wide range of technologies, such as photovoltaics, lithium-ion and beyond-lithium batteries, supercapacitors, fuel cells, and chemical and biological sensors. The mechanisms governing energy transduction and signal generation at the nanoscale are highlighted to clarify how structural and electronic modifications translate into measurable performance gains. In addition, emerging efforts to integrate nanomaterials into flexible, wearable, and miniaturized platforms are discussed, alongside persistent challenges related to large-scale manufacturing, long-term durability, and environmental impacts associated with material synthesis and disposal. By synthesizing current progress and identifying critical challenges, this review outlines a forward-looking roadmap for the development of sustainable, high-performance energy and sensing devices, emphasizing the importance of continued interdisciplinary collaboration to realize smart energy management, environmental monitoring, and healthcare diagnostic systems enabled by advanced nanomaterials.