Optical Biosensor Based on Graphene and Its Derivatives for Detecting Biomolecules

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Graphene and its derivatives possess unique optical, electrical, and physical properties ideal for biosensing applications.
• These materials exhibit excellent optical characteristics, including tunable absorption and fluorescence, enabling non-destructive biomolecule detection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the preparation methods for graphene and its derivatives.
• To summarize recent advancements in optical biosensors utilizing graphene-based materials.
• To analyze the advantages and disadvantages of graphene derivatives in various sensor types.

Main Methods:

• Review of surface plasmon resonance (SPR), surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), and colorimetric sensing principles.
• Analysis of surface functionalization techniques for graphene and its derivatives.
• Examination of applications in detecting biomolecules like cells, proteins, nucleic acids, and antigen-antibodies.

Main Results:

• Graphene-based optical biosensors offer ultra-fast, highly sensitive, label-free, and real-time detection of biomolecular interactions and surface structure changes.
• These sensors are versatile, applicable to a wide range of biomolecules and complex environments.
• The review analyzes the suitability of graphene and its derivatives for different sensing modalities.

Conclusions:

• Graphene and its derivatives are promising for developing high-performance optical biosensors.
• Current challenges include achieving applicability, reusability, low cost, and scalability for complex environments.
• Future research should focus on overcoming these challenges for practical, widespread adoption.