Electrochemical Affinity Biosensors: Pervasive Devices with Exciting Alliances and Horizons Ahead

Abstract

Electrochemical affinity biosensors are evolving at breakneck speed, strengthening and colonizing more and more niches and drawing unimaginable roadmaps that increasingly make them protagonists of our daily lives. They achieve this by combining their intrinsic attributes with those acquired by leveraging the significant advances that occurred in (nano)­materials technology, bio­(nano)­materials and nature-inspired receptors, gene editing and amplification technologies, and signal detection and processing techniques. The aim of this Perspective is to provide, with the support of recent representative and illustrative literature, an updated and critical view of the repertoire of opportunities, innovations, and applications offered by electrochemical affinity biosensors fueled by the key alliances indicated. In addition, the imminent challenges that these biodevices must face and the new directions in which they are envisioned as key players are discussed.

Single‐Response Duplexing of Electrochemical Label‐Free Biosensor from the Same Tag

“…[23,24] These methods can also deliver a reasonable final unit cost because of their high scaleup compatibility. [25] Regarding throughput, platforms with the ability to provide high-frequency monitoring are of pivotal relevance not only to increase the testing capacity toward massive diagnostics, [26][27][28][29] but also to ensure early and accurate diagnosis and assist in the diagnosis of diseases with similar symptoms (e.g., Zika and Dengue virus) as they can be used in the rapid detection of multiple biomarkers. [30] In this scenario, multiplex systems are powerful alternatives to boost throughput by providing the analysis of multiple targets from one sample and/or the same analyte from different samples simultaneously or over a single response.…”

“…[53][54][55] Although valuable, the one-electrode multiplex methods are prone to two limitations, that is, i) the occurrence of crosstalk between the different tags and ii) the absence of spatial isolation, with the modification of the same WE with different bioreceptors. [26][27][28][29] To date, the crosstalk can be detrimental to the resolution of the current peaks over the voltammetric scan, therefore requiring a meticulous selection of the signaling tags to resolve the electrochemical signatures. Conversely, the chemical modification of the same WE with various recognition elements may harm the reproducibility and specificity of the devices due to steric effects and further interferences from other species.…”

Effect of nanoporous membranes thickness in electrochemical biosensing performance: application for the detection of a wound infection biomarker

“…Biosensing devices constitute suitable alternatives in this sense, with highly diverse materials and formulations (Campuzano and Pingarrón, 2023) that allow the detection of nucleic acids as desoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) or protein biomarkers. From the biosensing strategies available, nanoporous materials constitute a robust alternative, proof-ofwhich are commercial examples as the DNA/RNA sequencing MinION technology, based on this sensing principle (Wang et al, 2021).…”

High‐Precision Viral Detection Using Electrochemical Kinetic Profiling of Aptamer‐Antigen Recognition in Clinical Samples and Machine Learning

“…Lateral flow assays are the gold standard for easy operation and are amenable to widespread use at the point of need; however, they fail to offer reliable results, especially in complex matrices such as saliva. [1] Electrochemical [2] and optical [3] affinity-based assays using nanomaterials [4,5] and nano-confinement [6,7] offer excellent analytical sensitivity; however, they often rely on multi-step sample manipulation or washing steps to maintain their analytical performance in clinical samples. Washing steps are needed for removing unreacted reagents and reducing interference caused by non-specific binding and background signals in clinical samples, such as saliva, that contain a large amount of interfering proteins and enzymes, small molecules, and nucleic acids.…”