A sensor array based on heterojunctions between semiconducting organic layers and single walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) films was produced to explore applications in breathomics, the molecular analysis of exhaled breath. The array was exposed to gas/volatiles relevant to specific diseases (ammonia, ethanol, acetone, 2-propanol, sodium hypochlorite, benzene, hydrogen sulfide, and nitrogen dioxide). Then, to evaluate its capability to operate with real relevant biological samples the array was exposed to human breath exhaled from healthy subjects. Finally, to provide a proof of concept of its diagnostic potential, the array was exposed to exhaled breath samples collected from subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an airway chronic inflammatory disease not yet investigated with CNT-based sensor arrays, and the results were compared to those from of healthy subjects breathprints. Principal component analysis showed that the sensor array was able to detect various target gas/volatiles with a clear fingerprint on a 2D subspace, was suitable for breath profiling in exhaled human breath, and was able to distinguish subjects with COPD from healthy subjects based on their breathprints. This classification ability was further improved by selecting the most responsive sensors to nitrogen dioxide, which has been proposed as a biomarker of COPD.

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A low-cost method for carbon nanotubes (CNTs) network production from solutions on flexible polyethylene naphthalate substrates has been adopted to prepare high quality and well characterized SWCNT bundle layers to be used as the active layer in chemiresistor gas sensors. Two types of SWCNTs have been tested: pristine SWCNTs, deposited from a surfactant solution, and covalently functionalized SWCNTs, deposited from a dimethyl-acetamide solution. The humidity effects on the sensitivity of the SWCNTs network to NH have been investigated. The results show that relative humidity favors the response to NH, confirming recent theoretical predictions. The COOH-functionalized sample displays the largest response owing to both its hydrophilic nature, favoring the interaction with HO molecules, and its largest surface area. Compared to data available in the literature, the present sensors display a remarkable sensitivity well below the ppm range, which makes them quite promising for environmental and medical applications, where NH concentrations (mostly of the order of tens of ppb) have to be detected.

This review highlights the developments, challenges and perspectives in graphene-based sensor for in-field food analysis.

Meat cultivation via cellular agriculture holds great promise as a method for future food production. In theory, it is an ideal way of meat production, humane to the animals and sustainable for the environment, while keeping the same taste and nutritional values as traditional meat and having additional benefits such as controlled fat content and absence of antibiotics and hormones used in the traditional meat industry. However, in practice, there is still a number of challenges, such as those associated with the upscale of cultured meat (CM). CM food safety monitoring is a necessary factor when envisioning both the regulatory compliance and consumer acceptance. To achieve this, a multidisciplinary approach is necessary. This includes extensive development of the sensitive and specific analytical devices i.e., sensors to enable reliable food safety monitoring throughout the whole future food supply chain. In addition, advanced monitoring options can help in the further optimization of the meat cultivation which may reduce the currently still high costs of production. This review presents an overview of the sensor monitoring options for the most relevant parameters of importance for meat cultivation. Examples of the various types of sensors that can potentially be used in CM production are provided and the options for their integration into bioreactors, as well as suggestions on further improvements and more advanced integration approaches. In favor of the multidisciplinary approach, we also include an overview of the bioreactor types, scaffolding options as well as imaging techniques relevant for CM research. Furthermore, we briefly present the current status of the CM research and related regulation, societal aspects and challenges to its upscaling and commercialization.

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Electrochemical biosensors utilizing nanomaterials have received widespread attention in pathogen detection and monitoring. Here, the potential of different nanomaterials and electrochemical technologies is reviewed for the development of novel diagnostic devices for the detection of foodborne pathogens and their biomarkers. The overview covers basic electrochemical methods and means for electrode functionalization, utilization of nanomaterials that include quantum dots, gold, silver and magnetic nanoparticles, carbon nanomaterials (carbon and graphene quantum dots, carbon nanotubes, graphene and reduced graphene oxide, graphene nanoplatelets, laser-induced graphene), metal oxides (nanoparticles, 2D and 3D nanostructures) and other 2D nanomaterials. Moreover, the current and future landscape of synergic effects of nanocomposites combining different nanomaterials is provided to illustrate how the limitations of traditional technologies can be overcome to design rapid, ultrasensitive, specific and affordable biosensors.

Direct laser writing is a technology with excellent prospects for mask-less processing of carbon-based nanomaterials, because of the wide range of photoinduced reactions that can be performed on large surfaces with submicron resolution. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of picoseconds laser pulses for one-step ablation and functionalization of graphene. Varying the parameters of power, pulse frequency, and speed, we demonstrated the ablation down to 2 μm width and up to mm-long lines as well as functionalization with spatial resolution less than 1 μm with linear speeds in the range of 1 m/s. Raman and atomic-force microscopy studies were used to indicate the difference in modified graphene states and correlation to the changes in optical properties.