Recent developments in three-dimensional graphene-based electrochemical sensors for food analysis

Biosensing Platforms for Cardiac Biomarker Detection

Myocardial infarction (MI) is a cardiovascular disease that occurs when there is an elevated demand for myocardial oxygen as a result of the rupture or erosion of atherosclerotic plaques. Globally, the mortality rates associated with MI are steadily on the rise. Traditional diagnostic biomarkers employed in clinical settings for MI diagnosis have various drawbacks, prompting researchers to investigate fast, precise, and highly sensitive biosensor platforms and technologies. Biosensors are analytical devices that combine biological elements with physicochemical transducers to detect and quantify specific compounds or analytes. These devices play a crucial role in various fields including healthcare, environmental monitoring, food safety, and biotechnology. Biosensors developed for the detection of cardiac biomarkers are typically electrochemical, mass, and optical biosensors. Nanomaterials have emerged as revolutionary components in the field of biosensing, offering unique properties that significantly enhance the sensitivity and specificity of the detection systems. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the advancements and applications of nanomaterial-based biosensing systems. Beginning with an exploration of the fundamental principles governing nanomaterials, we delve into their diverse properties, including but not limited to electrical, optical, magnetic, and thermal characteristics. The integration of these nanomaterials as transducers in biosensors has paved the way for unprecedented developments in analytical techniques. Moreover, the principles and types of biosensors and their applications in cardiovascular disease diagnosis are explained in detail. The current biosensors for cardiac biomarker detection are also discussed, with an elaboration of the pros and cons of existing platforms and concluding with future perspectives.

Gold nanoparticles as colorimetric probes in food analysis: Progress and challenges

The rapid, sensitive and reliable food safety control is urgently needed due to the harmful effects of the food contaminants on human health. Colorimetric approach has exhibited promising potential for the detection of food contaminants due to their easy preparation, rapid detection, high sensitivity, and naked-eye sensing. In recent years, AuNPs-based colorimetric probes have been extensively explored for food analysis. The present article reviews the development of AuNPs-based colorimetric probes for colorimetric sensing and their applications in food analysis. It generally summarizes the properties of AuNPs and introduces the preparation and functionalization methods of AuNPs. An overview of the colorimetric sensing mechanisms of AuNPs-based probes and their applications in analysis of food contaminants are also provided. Although AuNPs-based colorimetric probes show many advantages in detection of food contaminants, challenges remain in terms of complexity of food matrices, multiple analytes detection in a single go, and testing conditions interference.

Strategies and Applications of Graphene and Its Derivatives-Based Electrochemical Sensors in Cancer Diagnosis

Graphene is an emerging nanomaterial increasingly being used in electrochemical biosensing applications owing to its high surface area, excellent conductivity, ease of functionalization, and superior electrocatalytic properties compared to other carbon-based electrodes and nanomaterials, enabling faster electron transfer kinetics and higher sensitivity. Graphene electrochemical biosensors may have the potential to enable the rapid, sensitive, and low-cost detection of cancer biomarkers. This paper reviews early-stage research and proof-of-concept studies on the development of graphene electrochemical biosensors for potential future cancer diagnostic applications. Various graphene synthesis methods are outlined along with common functionalization approaches using polymers, biomolecules, nanomaterials, and synthetic chemistry to facilitate the immobilization of recognition elements and improve performance. Major sensor configurations including graphene field-effect transistors, graphene modified electrodes and nanocomposites, and 3D graphene networks are highlighted along with their principles of operation, advantages, and biosensing capabilities. Strategies for the immobilization of biorecognition elements like antibodies, aptamers, peptides, and DNA/RNA probes onto graphene platforms to impart target specificity are summarized. The use of nanomaterial labels, hybrid nanocomposites with graphene, and chemical modification for signal enhancement are also discussed. Examples are provided to illustrate applications for the sensitive electrochemical detection of a broad range of cancer biomarkers including proteins, circulating tumor cells, DNA mutations, non-coding RNAs like miRNA, metabolites, and glycoproteins. Current challenges and future opportunities are elucidated to guide ongoing efforts towards transitioning graphene biosensors from promising research lab tools into mainstream clinical practice. Continued research addressing issues with reproducibility, stability, selectivity, integration, clinical validation, and regulatory approval could enable wider adoption. Overall, graphene electrochemical biosensors present powerful and versatile platforms for cancer diagnosis at the point of care.

Recent advancements in non-enzymatic electrochemical sensor development for the detection of organophosphorus pesticides in food and environment

Organophosphorus Pesticides (OPPs) are among the extensively used pesticides throughout the world to boost agricultural production. However, persistent residues of these toxic pesticides in various vegetables, fruits, and drinking water poses detrimental health effects. Consequently, the rapid monitoring of these harmful chemicals through simple and cost-effective methods has become crucial. In such an instance, electrochemical methods offer simple, rapid, sensitive, reproducible, and affordable detection pathways. To overcome the limitations associated with electrochemical enzymatic sensors, non-enzymatic sensors have emerged as promising and simpler alternatives. The non-enzymatic sensors have demonstrated superior activity, reaching detection limit up to femto (10-15) molar concentration in recent years, leveraging higher selectivity obtained through the molecularly imprinted polymers, synergistic effects between carbonaceous nanomaterials and metals, metal oxide alloys, and other alternative approaches. Herein, this review paper provides an overview of the recent advancements in the development of non-enzymatic electrochemical sensors for the detection of commonly used OPPs, such as Chlorpyrifos (CHL), Diazinon (DZN), Malathion (MTN), Methyl parathion (MP) and Fenthion (FEN). The design method of the electrodes, electrode functioning mechanism, and their analytical performance metrics, such as limit of detection, sensitivity, selectivity, and linearity range, were reviewed and compared. Furthermore, the existing challenges within this rapidly growing field were discussed along with their potential solutions which will facilitate the fabrication of advanced and sustainable non-enzymatic sensors in the future.

Ultrasensitive amperometric determination of hand, foot and mouth disease based on gold nanoflower modified microelectrode

Given the widespread use of point-of-care testing for diagnosis of disease, micro-scale electrochemical deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) biosensors have become a promising area of research owing to its fast mass transfer, high current density and rapid response. In this study, a gold nanoparticles modified gold microelectrode (AuNPs/Au-Me) was constructed to determine the hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD)-related gene. The noble metal nanoparticles modification yielded ca. 7.4-fold increase in electroactive surface area of microelectrode, and the signal for HFMD-related gene was largely magnified. Under optimal conditions, the biosensor exhibited salient selectivity and sensitivity with a low detection limit of 0.3 fM (S/N = 3), which is sufficient for clinical diagnosis of HFMD. Additionally, the developed AuNPs/Au-Me was successfully applied to determining the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplified products of target gene. Thus, the electrochemical DNA biosensor possesses great potential in early-stage diagnosis and long-term monitoring of various disease.

Progress and opportunities for metal-organic framework composites in electrochemical sensors

Metal-organic framework composites have the advantages of large surface area, high porosity, strong catalytic efficiency and good stability, which provide a great possibility of finding excellent electrode materials for electrochemical sensors. However, MOF composites still face various challenges and difficulties, which limit their development and application. This paper reviews the application of MOF composites in electrochemical sensors, including MOF/carbon composites, MOF/metal nanoparticle composites, MOF/metal oxide composites and MOF/enzyme composites. In addition, the application challenges of MOF composites in electrochemical sensors are summarized. Finally, the application prospect for MOF composites is considered to promote the synthesis of more MOF composites with excellent properties.

Covalent Organic Frameworks-Based Electrochemical Sensors for Food Safety Analysis

Food safety is a key issue in promoting human health and sustaining life. Food analysis is essential to prevent food components or contaminants causing foodborne-related illnesses to consumers. Electrochemical sensors have become a desirable method for food safety analysis due to their simple, accurate and rapid response. The low sensitivity and poor selectivity of electrochemical sensors working in complex food sample matrices can be overcome by coupling them with covalent organic frameworks (COFs). COFs are a kind of novel porous organic polymer formed by light elements, such as C, H, N and B, via covalent bonds. This review focuses on the recent progress in COF-based electrochemical sensors for food safety analysis. Firstly, the synthesis methods of COFs are summarized. Then, a discussion of the strategies is given to improve the electrochemistry performance of COFs. There follows a summary of the recently developed COF-based electrochemical sensors for the determination of food contaminants, including bisphenols, antibiotics, pesticides, heavy metal ions, fungal toxin and bacterium. Finally, the challenges and the future directions in this field are discussed.

Recent advances and applications of magnetic covalent organic frameworks in food analysis

Recently, covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have been widely used to prepare magnetic adsorbents for food analysis due to their highly tunable porosity, large specific surface area, excellent chemical and thermal stability and large delocalised π-electron system. This review summarises the main types and preparation methods of magnetic COFs and their applications in food analysis for the detection of pesticide residues, veterinary drugs, endocrine-disrupting phenols and estrogens, plasticisers and other food contaminants. Furthermore, challenges and future outlook in the development of magnetic COFs for food analysis are discussed.

Nanomaterials and paper-based electrochemical devices: merging strategies for fostering sustainable detection of biomarkers

In the last few decades, nanomaterials have made great advances in the biosensor field, thanks to their ability to enhance several key issues of biosensing analytical tools, namely, sensitivity, selectivity, robustness, and reproducibility. The recent trend of sustainability has boosted the progress of novel and eco-designed electrochemical paper-based devices to detect easily the target analyte(s) with high sensitivity in complex matrices. The huge attention given by the scientific community and industrial sectors to paper-based devices is ascribed to the numerous advantages of these cost-effective analytical tools, including the absence of external equipment for solution flow, thanks to the capillary force of paper, the fabrication of reagent-free devices, because of the loading of reagents on the paper, and the easy multistep analyses by using the origami approach. Besides these features, herein we highlight the multifarious aspects of the nanomaterials such as (i) the significant enlargement of the electroactive surface area as well as the area available for the desired chemical interactions, (ii) the capability of anchoring biorecognition elements on the electrode surface on the paper matrix, (iii) the improvement of the conductivity of the cellulose matrix, (iv) the functionality of photoelectrochemical properties within the cellulose matrix, and (v) the improvement of electrochemical capabilities of conductive inks commonly used for electrode printing on the paper support, for the development of a new generation of paper-based electrochemical biosensors applied in the biomedical field. The state of the art over the last ten years has been analyzed highlighting the various functionalities that arise from the integration of nanomaterials with paper-based electrochemical biosensors for the detection of biomarkers.

A scientometric study on application of electrochemical sensors for detection of pesticide using graphene-based electrode modifiers

Pesticide testing is an important topic in environmental protection and food safety. The development of green, accurate and reliable pesticide residue detection methods is an important technical support for implementing of agricultural quality supervision. Electrochemical sensors are a very promising analytical method for pesticide detection due to their high sensitivity, speed, low cost and portability. Performance enhancement of electrochemical sensors is often accompanied by research advances in materials science. Among them, carbon material is a very important electrode material for the fabrication of electrochemical sensors. The discovery of graphene makes it the most promising candidate among carbon materials for sensor performance enhancement. The topic of this review is the use of graphene-modified electrochemical sensors for pesticide detection in the last decade. Traditional literature summaries and bibliometric analyses were used for an in-depth analysis of this topic. In addition to the introduction of different sensor types and performance comparisons, this review also parses the authors' country, keywords and publication frequency. The related research experienced rapid growth several years ago and has now reached a relatively stable stage. We also discuss the perspectives on this topic.

Recent advances in electrochemical-based sensors amplified with carbon-based nanomaterials (CNMs) for sensing pharmaceutical and food pollutants

Foodborne-related infections due to additives and pollutants pose a considerable task for food processing enterprises. Therefore, the competent, cost-effective, and quick investigation of nutrition additives and contaminants is essential to reduce the threat of public fitness problems. The electrochemical sensor (ECS) shows facile and potent analytical approaches desirable for food protection and quality inspection over traditional methods. The consequence of a broad display of nanomaterials has paved the path for their relevance in designing high-performance ECSs appliances for medical diagnostics and conditions and food protection. This review article has discussed the importance of electrochemical-based sensors amplified with carbon-based nanomaterials (CNMs). Initially, we have demonstrated the types of pharmaceutical and food/agriculture pollutants (such as pesticides, heavy metals, antibiotics and other medical drugs) present in water. Subsequently, we have compiled the information on electrochemical techniques (such as voltammetric and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) and their crucial parameters for detecting pollutants. Further, the applications of CNMs for sensing pharmaceutical and food pollutants have been demonstrated in detail. Finally, the topic has been concluded with existing challenges and future prospects.

Review of the Design of Ruthenium-Based Nanomaterials and Their Sensing Applications in Electrochemistry

In this review, ruthenium nanoparticles (Ru NPs)-based functional nanomaterials have attractive electrocatalytic characteristics and they offer considerable potential in a number of fields. Ru-based binary or multimetallic NPs are widely utilized for electrode modification because of their unique electrocatalytic properties, enhanced surface-area-to-volume ratio, and synergistic effect between two metals provides as an effective improved electrode sensor. This perspective review suggests the current research and development of Ru-based nanomaterials as a platform for electrochemical (EC) sensing of harmful substances, biomolecules, insecticides, pharmaceuticals, and environmental pollutants. The advantages and limitations of mono-, bi-, and multimetallic Ru-based nanocomposites for EC sensors are discussed. Besides, the relevant EC properties and analyte sensing approaches are also presented. On the basis of these insights, we highlighted recent results for synthesizing techniques and EC environmental pollutant sensors from the perspectives of diverse supports, including graphene, carbon nanotubes, silica, semiconductors, metal sulfides, and polymers. Finally, this work overviews the modern improvements in the utilization of Ru-based nanocomposites on the basis for electroanalytical sensors as well as suggestions for the field's future development.

Recent developments on graphene and its derivatives based electrochemical sensors for determinations of food contaminants

The sensing of food contaminants is essential to prevent their adverse health effects on the consumers. Electrochemical sensors are promising in the determination of electroactive analytes including food pollutants, biomolecules etc. Graphene nanomaterials offer many benefits as electrode material in a sensing device. To further improve the analytical performance, doped graphene or derivatives of graphene such as reduced graphene oxide and their nanocomposites were explored as electrode materials. Herein, the advancements in graphene and its derivatives-based electrochemical sensors for analysis of food pollutants were summarized. Determinations of both organic (food colourants, pesticides, drugs, etc.) and inorganic pollutants (metal cations and anions) were considered. The influencing factors including nature of electrode materials and food pollutants, pH, electroactive surface area etc., on the sensing performances of modified electrodes were highlighted. The results of pollutant detection in food samples by the graphene-based electrode have also been outlined. Lastly, conclusions and current challenges in effective real sample detection were presented.

基于氧化石墨烯气凝胶固相萃取柱检测有机磷农药

以氧化石墨烯气凝胶三维纳米材料作为固相萃取的吸附剂,结合高效液相色谱,对食品中的有机磷农药(辛硫磷、双硫磷、倍硫磷、杀螟硫磷)进行检测分析。首先,利用冷冻干燥的方式制备得到氧化石墨烯气凝胶,通过扫描电镜、红外光谱、比表面积吸附等一系列的实验手段对其形貌及物理特性进行了表征,证明其成功合成。从扫描电镜中可见石墨烯的层状褶皱结构,其表面积为740.51 m²/g。然后,将氧化石墨烯气凝胶直接填充于固相萃取柱中,在未借助任何硅胶等基体的条件下进行萃取研究;通过单因素实验,系统研究了萃取和洗脱条件对有机磷农药萃取回收率的影响。结果显示,在上样体积15 mL、样品溶液pH值4、上样速率1.0 mL/min、洗脱剂1.0 mL乙腈的条件下萃取回收率最高。与商用的萃取材料进行比较,包括碳十八硅胶柱(C18)、阴离子交换柱(SAX)、氨基柱(-NH₂)和硅酸镁柱(Florisil),氧化石墨烯气凝胶填充的固相萃取柱的萃取回收率有明显提高。实验考察了氧化石墨烯气凝胶直接填充的萃取柱的寿命,结果显示该萃取柱可以重复使用15次,可见解决了分散无基体支撑的石墨烯纳米片容易破碎、堵塞筛板的问题。与液相色谱联用建立分析方法,4种有机磷农药的线性范围较宽,辛硫磷、双硫磷和倍硫磷的线性范围为1~200 μg/L,杀螟硫磷的线性范围为2~200 μg/L,线性拟合良好(线性相关系数r²≥0.9949),检出限为0.2~0.5 μg/L,满足于我国和其他国家限定标准的检测。将该方法应用于实际样品,在苹果皮中未检测到有机磷农药,对其进行加标,回收率为70.5%~93.6%,相对标准偏差≤10.4%。

Lanthanide ion (Ln3+ )-based upconversion sensor for quantification of food contaminants: A review

The food safety issue has gradually become the focus of attention in modern society. The presence of food contaminants poses a threat to human health and there are a number of interesting researches on the detection of food contaminants. Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are superior to other fluorescence materials, considering the benefits of large anti-Stokes shifts, high chemical stability, non-autofluorescence, good light penetration ability, and low toxicity. These properties render UCNPs promising candidates as luminescent labels in biodetection, which provides opportunities as a sensitive, accurate, and rapid detection method. This paper intended to review the research progress of food contaminants detection by UCNPs-based sensors. We have proposed the key criteria for UCNPs in the detection of food contaminants. Additionally, it highlighted the construction process of the UCNPs-based sensors, which includes the synthesis and modification of UCNPs, selection of the recognition elements, and consideration of the detection principle. Moreover, six kinds of food contaminants detected by UCNPs technology in the past 5 years have been summarized and discussed fairly. Last but not least, it is outlined that UCNPs have great potential to be applied in food safety detection and threw new insight into the challenges ahead.

Ensuring seafood safe to spoon: a brief review of biosensors for marine biotoxin monitoring

With harmful algal blooms, marine food poisoning caused by marine biotoxins frequently occurs and is life-threatening if severe. However, the conventional detection methods of marine toxins have a few limitations: low sensitivity and high-cost. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a fast and sensitive on-site detection method for real seafood sample. Biosensors based on aptamers, antibodies, and cells have been applied in marine toxins monitoring. This review presents the classification and toxic effects of marine toxins, and recent biosensor for marine toxin detection. In addition, we have compared the superiority and limitation of these biosensors. Finally, challenges and opportunities of biosensors in food safety detection were discussed. Considering the excellent results achieved by the aptasensor in the field of detection, it seems ready to be put into practical applications.