Recently, the use of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and fullerenes in the design of new biosensors have attracted great interest in the development of carbon nanomaterials. Due to the superior properties of CNTs and fullerenes, the use of sensor components allows the development of reliable, accurate and fast biosensors. Depending on the types of target molecules, the development and application areas of the sensors vary. This review summarizes the role of CNTs and fullerenes in the development of biosensors in different application areas. Considering the difference between other members of the nano-carbon family, we explain why CNTs are used more widely in biosensor applications and why fullerenes have high potentials in these areas of application. Moreover, we focused on investigating the function of these nano-carbons in the detection of various analytes in bio-sensing. By discussing the challenges and future expectations, we have put forward a perspective that may help synthesize advanced composites in the development of new generation designs in biosensor applications.

Nanobiosensors are convenient, practical, and sensitive analyzers that detect chemical and biological agents and convert the results into meaningful data between a biologically active molecule and a recognition element immobilized on the surface of the signal transducer by a physicochemical detector. Due to their fast, accurate and reliable operating characteristics, nanobiosensors are widely used in clinical and nonclinical applications, bedside testing, medical textile industry, environmental monitoring, food safety, etc. They play an important role in such critical applications. Therefore, the design of the biosensing interface is essential in determining the performance of the nanobiosensor. The unique chemical and physical properties of nanomaterials have paved the way for new and improved sensing devices in biosensors. The growing demand for devices with improved sensing and selectivity capability, short response time, lower limit of detection, and low cost causes novel investigations on nanobiomaterials to be used as biosensor scaffolds. Among all other nanomaterials, studies on developing nanobiosensors based on metal oxide nanostructures, graphene and its derivatives, carbon nanotubes, and the widespread use of these nanomaterials as a hybrid structure have recently attracted attention. Nanohybrid structures created by combining these nanostructures will directly meet the future biosensors’ needs with their high electrocatalytic activities. This review addressed the recent developments on these nanomaterials and their derivatives, and their use as biosensor scaffolds. We reviewed these popular nanomaterials by evaluating them with comparative studies, tables, and charts.

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Among the thermoplastic elastomers that play important roles in the polymer industry due to their superior properties, styrene‐based species and polyurethane block copolymers are of great interest. Poly(styrene‐ethylene‐butadiene‐styrene) (SEBS) as a triblock copolymer seems to have the potential to meet many demands in different applications due to various industrial requirements where durability, biocompatibility, breaking elongation, and interfacial adhesion are important. In this study, the SEBS triblock copolymer was functionalized with natural (Satureja hortensis, SH) and synthetic (nanopowder, TiO2) agents to obtain composite nanofibers by electrospinning and electrospraying methods for use in biomedical and water filtration applications. The results were compared with thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) composite nanofibers, which are commonly used in these fields. Here, functionalized SEBS nanofibers exhibited antibacterial effect while at the same time improving cell viability. In addition, because of successful water filtration by using the SEBS composite nanofibers, the material may have a good potential to be used comparably to TPU for the application.

Development of environmentally friendly and natural-based products with healing properties has become a popular trend for human health. Here, for the first time as far as known, we reported an efficient antibacterial composite nanofiber which was functionalized with the herbal extract of Satureja hortensis (SH) via electrospinning technique for wound care dressing applications. The plant which was used for this purpose is cultivated on a commercial scale in our country, Turkey, and it is relatively inexpensive and widely used. Investigation of the herbal extract demonstrated 227% higher antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and 141% higher for Pseudomonas aeruginosa when compared with a commonly used strong antibiotic of amoxicillin. Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU)-based composite nanofibers including SH with a diameter of about 734 nm for the wound dressings also showed efficient antibacterial activity against these two pathogens which can lead significant health problems and deaths. FTIR characterization confirmed that there is no chemical change of SH when it was incorporated to the composite polymeric nanofibers by the electrospinning technique. We strongly believe that the obtained results suggest a potential natural-based eco-friendly approach for wound care dressing in contrast with synthetic and metal based-antibacterial agents, which have many negative effects on human body and the environment.

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Improvement of nano-sized products with boron additives with remarkable properties has become a popular trend for many different application areas. Here, we have reported an efficient poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) based composite nanofiber which was functionalized with the hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) via electrospinning technique, for the first time as far as known, for body-armor and protective clothing applications. PVA-based composite nanofibers containing h-BN with a diameter of approximately 326 nm have shown significant mechanical features compared to pure PVA nanofibers with a diameter of about 223 nm. Mechanical features were investigated by nanoindentation and the results of nanoindentation demonstrated that the elastic modulus of PVA nanofibers increased by 77%, and hardness values of polymeric nanofibers reached ten times more, by the addition of h-BN. FTIR and XRD characterizations approved that there is no chemical change of h-BN when it was integrated into the PVA based composite nanofibers. We exceptionally believe that the achieved results offer a potential lightness and cost-effective strategy for body armor and protective clothing applications in contrast to boron carbide-based body armor products, which have main problems such as weightiness and high-priced.