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Pure, mixed and doped metal oxides (MOX) have attracted great interest for the development of electrical and electrochemical sensors since they are cheaper, faster, easier to operate and capable of online analysis and real-time identification. This review focuses on highly sensitive chemoresistive type sensors based on doped-SnO2, RhO, ZnO-Ca, Smx-CoFe2−xO4 semiconductors used to detect toxic gases (H2, CO, NO2) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (e.g., acetone, ethanol) in monitoring of gaseous markers in the breath of patients with specific pathologies and for environmental pollution control. Interesting results about the monitoring of biochemical substances as dopamine, epinephrine, serotonin and glucose have been also reported using electrochemical sensors based on hybrid MOX nanocomposite modified glassy carbon and screen-printed carbon electrodes. The fundamental sensing mechanisms and commercial limitations of the MOX-based electrical and electrochemical sensors are discussed providing research directions to bridge the existing gap between new sensing concepts and real-world analytical applications.

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Structural, petrologic, and thermobarometric data presented in this paper contribute to our understanding of the tectono-metamorphic evolution of the lowest tectonic slices of the Aspromonte Massif (southern Calabria, Italy), which crop out in three main tectonic windows. Despite previously being considered different units, they exhibit the following similar features: the same tectonic evolution, analogous blasto-deformation relationships, and absence of Hercynian mineralogical assemblage relics. Similar P-T paths indicate early HP-LT Meso-Alpine metamorphism (400-600° C at 0.95-1.35 GPa), evolving in the Oligocene-Miocene toward a subsequent retrograde shearing event ranging from 480° to 610°C and 0.50 to 0.95 GPa. The latest retrograde evolution is characterized by 350-480°C and 0.32-0.62 GPa. In this new tectonic framework, it is proposed to group the metapelite sequences defining the Madonna di Polsi Unit. Data presented herein suggest that the pre-Alpine geodynamic setting of southern Calabria was a thinned continental margin made up of Hercynian basement and Mesozoic terrigenous-carbonate sedimentary cover. This continental margin evolved during the early Meso-Alpine stage into a subduction zone beneath the European plate, followed by Neo-Alpine syn-convergent exhumation along a deep-seated mylonitic shear zone. These processes are responsible for the Alpine metamorphic overprint on the Hercynian terranes, as well as for Alpine metamorphism of their Mesozoic cover.

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