Carbon nanomaterials are among the most broadly discussed, researched and applied of synthetic nanomaterials. The structural diversity of these materials provides an array of unique electronic, magnetic and optical properties, which when combined with their robust chemistry and ease of manipulation, makes them attractive candidates for sensor applications. Furthermore, the biocompatibility exhibited by many carbon nanomaterials has seen them used as in vivo biosensors. Carbon nanotubes, graphene and carbon dots have come under intense scrutiny, as either discrete molecular-like sensors, or as components which can be integrated into devices. In this review we consider recent developments in the use of carbon nanoparticles and nanostructures as sensors and consider how they can be used to detect a diverse range of analytes.
The plasmonic properties of composites with controlled AuNP loading are found to be well described by a plasmon ruler equation, and Raman optical tweezer results show the SERS performance in the bulk is dominated by the discrete composite properties.
Ultrafast time‐resolved infrared (TRIR) is used to report on the binding site of the [Ru(phen)2(dppz)]2+ “light‐switch” complex with both bimolecular (Oxytricha nova telomere) and intramolecular (human telomere) guanine‐quadruplex structures in both K+ and Na+ containing solutions. TRIR permits the simultaneous monitoring both of the “dark” and “bright” states of the complex and of the quadruplex nucleobase bases, the latter via a Stark effect induced by the excited state of the complex. These data are used to establish the contribution of guanine base stacking and loop interactions to the binding site of this biologically relevant DNA structure in solution. A particularly striking observation is the strong thymine signal observed for the Na+ form of the human telomere sequence, which is expected to be in the anti‐parallel conformation.
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