Application of carbon nanotubes in the construction of biosensors: review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5902/2179460X94734Keywords:
Nanocomposites, Nanotechnology, SensorsAbstract
Biosensors are devices capable of sensing a variety of compounds and can be used for medicine, food quality control and environmental safety. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are materials that show promising properties when acting as components for biosensors, offering superior electrical performance in field-effect transistors used in chemical and biological devices. Thus, this study aims to elaborate a bibliographic review of the use of biosensors based on CNTs to detect a variety of important analytes, such as tumor biomarkers, neurotransmitters, viruses, glucose and hydrogen peroxide. For that, searches were made in the PubMed (US National Library of Medicine), Web of Science and Scopus databases, with the following descriptors: “carbon nanotube”, “composite” and “biosensor”. Inclusion criteria were defined as original articles written in English and published in the last 5 years, leading to 24 articles in total. Results showed that CNT-based biosensors have a low detection limit, high sensitivity and reproducibility, while the CNTs offer adsorption control, reactivity, thermal stability, flexibility and electronic conductivity. Therefore, CNT biosensors can provide fast and highly sensitive detection for a wide range of applications, with some advantages over current standard methods, such as lower costs and greater accessibility. However, even with their important capabilities, biosensors still have some challenges before being applied to daily life, as studies should focus on enhancing the functionality of these devices at physiological pH and room and body temperatures, while maintaining their sensitivity and stability for longer periods.
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