Polymer composite sensors: Environmental aspects, health hazards, and degradation

Polymer composite-based materials have found a permanent place in sensor applications, because their physicochemical properties can be reshaped over an extended range. Over time, the use of polymer composites in sensor fabrication has increased with demand, but their impacts on the environment are yet to be properly understood. This chapter deals with the application of polymer composites in various sensor devices and their hazardous effects on the environment after disposal on land or in the oceans. In addition, an overview of plausible degradation mechanisms of the polymer waste composites in the environment is also presented. Finally, this chapter concludes with the commercially available routes of recovery from the continuous growth of polymeric waste materials in the environment and the status of present research trends on polymeric waste materials that might be plausible future pathways to reduce the polymeric waste-based pollution in the surrounding environment.