Acquiring information in harsh environments, which could be high-temperature, high-humidity, high-radiation, high-shock, chemically corrosive, or in vivo, is vital for many industrial and research applications. For instance, monitoring the pressure and temperature in combustion processes can help to optimise structure design and predict the potential failure of engines. Additionally, the ability to probe harsh environments facilitates the exploration and understanding of new environments, such as new planets and deep oceans.

However, sensing in harsh environments is technologically challenging because many sensing devices cannot survive and work properly in harsh conditions, such as high-temperature and in vivo environments. Hence, new technology, which relies on novel approaches and devices, is demanded for sensing in harsh environments for various applications. Micro- and nanotechnology have contributed significantly to the development of various sensing methods and devices, which are highly sensitive, reliable, integrative, and miniaturised for obtaining various physical, chemical, and biological parameters accurately. Advances in micro-and nanotechnology have also been broadened from the conventional silicon-based process to various materials in recent decades, which could potentially be used for sensing in harsh environments. The contributions of micro-and nanotechnology for sensing in harsh environments range from engineering novel functional materials to developing novel fabrication processes, which can potentially solve current problems of sensing in harsh environments, such as the reliability and power supply of sensing devices. Additionally, advances in micro-and nanotechnology could also shine a light on new sensing applications, which are unfeasible using available technologies.

This Special Issue aims to attract novel research articles in the utilisation and development of novel micro- and nanotechnology for various sensing applications in harsh environments, which includes research on the development and application of new materials, sensor devices, energy harvesting, and signal readout approaches. Review articles on the recent progress or summaries of previous works are also welcome.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Micro-/nanostructured functional materials for harsh environment sensing applications
• Design and fabrication of micro- and nanosensors
• Heterogeneous integration at micro/nanoscale for sensing devices
• Micro-/nanomanufacturing for integrated/embedded sensing
• Package and reliability of micro-/nano devices in harsh environments
• Power supply and energy harvesting for micro/nano devices in harsh environments
• Signal readout, transmission, and processing for sensing in harsh environments
• Novel sensing applications with micro-/nanotechnology