Recent Advances in Electrospun Nanofiber Interfaces for Biosensing Devices

Abstract

Electrospinning has emerged as a very powerful method combining efficiency, versatility and low cost to elaborate scalable ordered and complex nanofibrous assemblies from a rich variety of polymers. Electrospun nanofibers have demonstrated high potential for a wide spectrum of applications, including drug delivery, tissue engineering, energy conversion and storage, or physical and chemical sensors. The number of works related to biosensing devices integrating electrospun nanofibers has also increased substantially over the last decade. This review provides an overview of the current research activities and new trends in the field. Retaining the bioreceptor functionality is one of the main challenges associated with the production of nanofiber-based biosensing interfaces. The bioreceptors can be immobilized using various strategies, depending on the physical and chemical characteristics of both bioreceptors and nanofiber scaffolds, and on their interfacial interactions. The production of nanobiocomposites constituted by carbon, metal oxide or polymer electrospun nanofibers integrating bioreceptors and conductive nanomaterials (e.g., carbon nanotubes, metal nanoparticles) has been one of the major trends in the last few years. The use of electrospun nanofibers in ELISA-type bioassays, lab-on-a-chip and paper-based point-of-care devices is also highly promising. After a short and general description of electrospinning process, the different strategies to produce electrospun nanofiber biosensing interfaces are discussed.

Nanofibers for Biomedical and Healthcare Applications

“…Surface immobilization has been typically used to immobilize enzymes, antibodies, DNA strands, and aptamers on nanofiber surface. Another approach consists in loading the bioactive molecules inside the nanofiber by electrospinning a blend of enzymes and polymer …”

“…Another approach consists in loading the bioactive molecules inside the nanofiber by electrospinning a blend of enzymes and polymer. [174] Generally, nanofiber-based biosensors reveal the great potential for applications in disease diagnostics and healthcare testing. Nanofibers have been employed to detect a wide range of analytes including glucose, [22] urea, [175] cholesterol, [176] and microRNA.…”

Large‐Scale Direct‐Writing of Aligned Nanofibers for Flexible Electronics

“…Since their plenty of available binding sites for biological recognition element immobilization, fast mass transfer rates, and facile surface functionalization of various groups, electrospun nanofibers have demonstrated rather a high potential in biological applications, including biosensors, drug delivery, water treatment, or tissue engineering . Precise deposition of fiber arrays is essential in determining the functionalities of biomimetics devices and provides great versatility for incorporation into multiplexed, portable, wearable, and even implantable medical devices …”

Recent progress on nanostructured conducting polymers and composites: synthesis, application and future aspects

“…Electrospinning has been considered as one of the simplest and most effective physical methods to prepare nanoscale 1D structures (nanofibers and nanorods) without any template [73,74]. The basic set up of electrospinning system includes three major components: high-voltage power supply, spinneret and an electrical conductive collector, as shown in Fig.…”