Protein-Directed In Situ Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles on Reduced Graphene Oxide Modified Electrode for Nonenzymatic Glucose Sensing

Nanomaterial-Based Label-Free Electrochemical Aptasensors for the Detection of Thrombin

Thrombin plays a central role in hemostasis and its imbalances in coagulation can lead to various pathologies. It is of clinical significance to develop a fast and accurate method for the quantitative detection of thrombin. Electrochemical aptasensors have the capability of combining the specific selectivity from aptamers with the extraordinary sensitivity from electrochemical techniques and thus have attracted considerable attention for the trace-level detection of thrombin. Nanomaterials and nanostructures can further enhance the performance of thrombin aptasensors to achieve high sensitivity, selectivity, and antifouling functions. In highlighting these material merits and their impacts on sensor performance, this paper reviews the most recent advances in label-free electrochemical aptasensors for thrombin detection, with an emphasis on nanomaterials and nanostructures utilized in sensor design and fabrication. The performance, advantages, and limitations of those aptasensors are summarized and compared according to their material structures and compositions.

A Brief Description of Cyclic Voltammetry Transducer-Based Non-Enzymatic Glucose Biosensor Using Synthesized Graphene Electrodes

The essential disadvantages of conventional glucose enzymatic biosensors such as high fabrication cost, poor stability of enzymes, pH value-dependent, and dedicated limitations, have been increasing the attraction of non-enzymatic glucose sensors research. Beneficially, patients with diabetes could use this type of sensor as a fourth-generation of glucose sensors with a very low cost and high performance. We demonstrate the most common acceptable transducer for a non-enzymatic glucose biosensor with a brief description of how it works. The review describes the utilization of graphene and its composites as new materials for high-performance non-enzymatic glucose biosensors. The electrochemical properties of graphene and the electrochemical characterization using the cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique of electrocatalysis electrodes towards glucose oxidation have been summarized. A recent synthesis method of the graphene-based electrodes for non-enzymatic glucose sensors have been introduced along with this study. Finally, the electrochemical properties such as linearity, sensitivity, and the limit of detection (LOD) for each sensor are introduced with a comparison with each other to figure out their strengths and weaknesses.

Ag and Au nanoparticles/reduced graphene oxide composite materials: Synthesis and application in diagnostics and therapeutics

The exceptional electrical, thermal, optical and mechanical properties have made two dimensional sp² hybridized graphene a material of choice in both academic as well as industrial research. In the last few years, researchers have devoted their efforts towards the development of graphene/polymer, graphene/metal nanoparticle and graphene/ceramic nanocomposites. These materials display excellent mechanical, electrical, thermal, catalytic, magnetic and optical properties which cannot be obtained separately from the individual components. Fascinating physical and chemical properties are displayed by noble metal nanomaterials and thus they represent model building blocks for modifying nanoscale structures for diverse applications extending from catalysis, optics to nanomedicine. Insertion of noble metal (Au, Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) into chemically derived graphene is thus of primary importance to open new avenues for both materials in various fields where the specific properties of each material act synergistically to provide hybrid materials with exceptional performances. This review attempts to summarize the different synthetic procedures for the preparation of Ag and Au NPs/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composites. The synthesis processes of metal NPs/rGO composites are categorised into in-situ and ex-situ techniques. The in-situ approach consists of simultaneous reduction of metal salts and GO to obtain metal NPs/rGO nanocomposite materials, while in the ex-situ process, the metal NPs of desired size and shape are first synthesized and then transferred onto the GO or rGO matrix. The application of the Ag NPs and Au NPs/rGO composite materials in the area of biomedical (drug delivery and photothermal therapy) and biosensing are the focus of this review article.

Recent advancements, key challenges and solutions in non-enzymatic electrochemical glucose sensors based on graphene platforms

This review elucidates the recent advances in graphene platforms in electrochemical non-enzymatic glucose sensors and provides solutions for existing bottlenecks.