abstract
The detection of water and food contaminants is contributing to reach the Global Goals and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (especially Goal 2 "Zero hunger" and Goal 6 "Clean water and sanitation": ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all). The widespread presence of contaminants has created an urgent need for analytical tools that are sensitive, specific, accurate, rapid, and easy-to-use to support legislative efforts and enable early warnings. Optical biosensors have emerged as powerful alternatives to traditional methods, which are often time-consuming and labor-intensive. Herein, we review the recent advances in the development of biosensors based on several optical techniques for the detection of food and water contaminants. In our excursus, all the main classes of biological and biomimetic recognition elements are presented ranging from traditional antibodies and molecularly imprinted polymers to DNAzyme and nanobodies. Through a critical analysis of the latest optical biosensor innovations, we explore their current limitations and potential, emphasizing the need to transition these strategies from research to practical applications. This work highlights the synergy of sensing mechanisms, nanomaterials, and technologies in creating advanced optical devices that are cost-effective, miniaturized, accurate, multi-parameter, and integrated, with the goal of bridging the gap between laboratory research and market-ready solutions.
keywords
PLASMON RESONANCE IMMUNOSENSOR; ESCHERICHIA-COLI O157/H7; DNAZYME-BASED BIOSENSOR; RAPID DETECTION; SPR BIOSENSOR; SENSITIVE DETECTION; APTAMER BIOSENSOR; FRET APTASENSOR; QUANTUM DOTS; HEAVY-METALS
subject category
Chemistry
authors
Oliveira, S; Sharifuzzaman, M; Moro, G; Sinibaldi, A; Altintas, Z; Kumar, S; Chiavaioli, F; Marques, C
our authors
Carlos Marques
Assistant ProfessorProjects
Associated Laboratory CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials (LA/P/0006/2020)
CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDB/50011/2020)
CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDP/50011/2020)
Collaboratory for Emerging Technologies, CoLab (EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES)
acknowledgements
C.M. acknowledges CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials for the projects LA/P/0006/2020, UIDB/50011/2020 & UIDP/50011/2020, and the project "DigiAqua" (PTDC/EEI-EEE/0415/2021) , financed by national funds through the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation/MCTES (FCT I.P., Portugal) . The research was co-funded by the financial support of the European Union under the REFRESH - Research Excellence For REgion Sustainability and High-tech Industries project number CZ.10.03.01/00/22_003/0000048 via the Operational Programme Just Transition. F.C. acknowledges financial support under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) , Mission 4, Component 2, Investment 1.1, Call for tender No. 104 published on 2.2.2022 by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) , funded by the European Union - NextGeneration EU- Project Title "Engineering functional metal nanocluster-protein architectures for bio (sensing and catalytic) applications" - CUP B53D23013940006-Grant Assignment Decree No. 958 adopted on 30/06/2023 by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) . Z.A. acknowledges the German Research Foundation (Project number: 428780268, 541301469, INST 257/739, and INST 257/742-1) , the Aventis Foundation (Project number: 80304368) , Joachim Herz Foundation (Project number: 803043) and the European Union (Project number: 101097989) for their financial support. Sandro Oliveira, Md Sharifuzzaman, Giulia Moro, and Alberto Sinibaldi contributed equally to this work. The Authors declare no conflict of interest.