Abstract
Electrochemical aptasensors, which are based on the specificity of aptamer-target recognition, with electrochemical transduction for analytical purposes have received particular attention due to their high sensitivity and selectivity, simple instrumentation, as well as low production cost. Aptamers are functional nucleic acids with specific and high affinity to their targets, similar to antibodies. However, they are completely selected in vitro in contrast to antibodies. Due to their stability, easy chemical modifications and proneness to nanostructured device construction, aptamer-based sensors have been incorporated in a variety of applications including electrochemical sensing devices. In recent years, the performance of aptasensors has been augmented by incorporating novel nanomaterials in the preparation of better electrochemical sensors. In this review, we summarize the recent trends in the use of nanomaterials for developing electrochemical aptasensors.
Highlights
Electrochemical aptasensors facilitate simple, effective and rapid detection of biomolecules which are important in medicine, environment and food applications
Physical persistence is another useful characteristic of aptamers compared to antibodies; extreme pH or temperature treatments do not interfere with nucleic acid refolding ability, whereas most antibodies are completely destroyed under such conditions
Examples involving aptamers associated with graphene, carbon nanotubes and various nanoparticles will be discussed in detail in the appropriate sections below
Summary
Electrochemical aptasensors (aptamer-based sensors) facilitate simple, effective and rapid detection of biomolecules which are important in medicine, environment and food applications. Carbon materials have been widely employed in analytical electrochemistry, outperforming the traditional electrodes Their performance originates largely from structural polymorphism and chemical stability. Micro-structured carbon materials, such as carbon nanotubes (CNT), improved electrochemical applications by enabling novel designs in sensing, electrocatalysis and electronics, compared to traditional carbon materials such as glassy carbon, diamond or carbon black. Graphene emerged as a material with future potential for improved applications These expectations are based on the more advanced properties of graphene compared to CNTs [3]. We review some of the recent efforts to construct novel and improved electrochemical sensors involving graphene, carbon nanotubes and some metal nanoparticle composites after short introductory summaries on aptamers and amperometric, potentiometric or impedimetric measurements
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