Printed sensor with vibrant colorimetric particles

A method of forming a colorimetric sensor, comprising:

• depositing a first material onto a white substrate;
• providing porous sensing particles by one of infusing the aerogel with the sensing species, having the sensing species present in a solvent that is a part of a precursor solution used to form the aerogel, or chemically grafting the sensing species onto aerogel walls during or after forming the aerogel, wherein the sensing particles comprise color changing sensing species that change color in the presence of an analyte dispersed into a porous host structure;
• and
• embedding the porous sensing particles onto a surface of the deposited first material, the first material attaching the sensing particles to the substrate with at least a portion of the sensing particles is exposed to an ambient environment.

A method of forming a colorimetric sensor, comprising:

• depositing a first material onto a substrate darker than white substrate;
• providing porous sensing particles by one of one of infusing the aerogel with the sensing species, having the sensing species present in a solvent that is a part of a precursor solution used to form the aerogel, or chemically grafting the sensing species onto aerogel walls during or after forming the aerogel, wherein the sensing particles comprise fluorescence changing sensing species that change their fluorescence in the presence of an analyte dispersed into a porous host structure;
• and
• embedding the porous sensing particles onto a surface of the deposited first material, the first material attaching the sensing particles to the substrate with that at least a portion of the sensing particles is exposed to an ambient environment.