The increasing importance of carbon nanotubes and nanostructured conducting polymers in biosensors

Abstract

The growing needs for analytical devices requiring smaller sample volumes, decreased power consumption and improved performance have been driving forces behind the rapid growth in nanomaterials research. Due to their dimensions, nanostructured materials display unique properties not traditionally observed in bulk materials. Characteristics such as increased surface area along with enhanced electrical/optical properties make them suitable for numerous applications such as nanoelectronics, photovoltaics and chemical/biological sensing. In this review we examine the potential that exists to use nanostructured materials for biosensor devices.By incorporating nanomaterials, it is possible to achieve enhanced sensitivity, an improved response time and smaller size. Here we report some of the success that has been achieved in this area. Many nanoparticle and nanofibre geometries are particularly relevant, in this paper however we specifically focus on organic nanostructures, reviewing conducting polymer nanostructures and carbon nanotubes.

Increased response/recovery lifetimes and reinforcement of polyaniline nanofiber films using carbon nanotubes

“…There has been considerable research interest and many suggested applications for CNTs which include conductive and high-strength composites, energy storage/conversion devices and sensors [27,28]. Perhaps one of the most significant properties of CNTs is their large aspect ratio, which is often greater than a thousand.…”

Carbon nanomaterials field-effect-transistor-based biosensors

“…2,3 In particular, researchers around the world have been tailor-making a multitude of nanomaterials-based electrical biosensors and developing new strategies to apply them in ultrasensitive biosensing. Examples of such nanomaterials include carbon nanotubes, [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] nanowires, 11,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] nanoparticles, 6,[22][23][24][25] nanopores, 26,27 nanoclusters 28 and graphene. 5,[29][30][31][32] Compared with conventional optical, biochemical and biophysical methods, nanomaterial-based electronic biosensing offers significant advantages, such as high sensitivity and new sensing mechanisms, high spatial resolution for localized detection, facile integration with standard wafer-scale semiconductor processing and label-free, real-time detection in a nondestructive manner.…”

“…Fortunately, there are a number of excellent previous review papers in the literature covering various aspects of carbon nanomaterials-based biosensors, which can amend these deficiencies. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]30,34 BASIC INTRODUCTION TO CARBON NANOMATERIALS There has been an explosion of interest in use of carbon nanomaterials in new nanoscale biosensors. Owing to their unique physicochemical properties, SWNTs and, very recently, graphene are in the forefront of this explosion.…”

Electroanalytical Sensor Technology

“…Recent development has focused on improving the immobilization and stability of the enzymes [57,58]. Enzymes immobilized to nanosized scaffolds such as spheres, fibres and tubes have all recently been reported [59][60][61]. The premise of using nanoscale structures for immobilization is to reduce diffusion limitations and maximize the functional surface area to increase enzyme loading.…”