Room-temperature ionic liquid-based electrochemical nanobiosensors

Room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) have proved to be excellent materials for applications in electrochemistry. We review progress in constructing high-performance electrochemical biosensors. We also discuss:
• different modified electrodes based on RTILs for biosensing applications;
• different routes for enzyme biosensing based on RTIL-modified electrodes;
• incorporation of biorecognition elements into RTIL-based electrodes;
• electroanalytical applications of RTIL-based modified electrodes; and,
• recent developments in which the advantages of ILs as a medium for biosensing were realized.We also summarize the latest developments in the applications of RTIL-based electrochemical biosensors in ultrasensitive detection of biological entities, especially nucleic acids and proteins. We review different types of RTIL-based electrochemical biosensors (e.g., based on enzymes, proteins and nucleic acids) in terms of their sensing performance and potential for future development.

► We classify the different types of ionic liquid.
► Recent advances in room-temperature ionic liquid-based electrochemical biosensing.
► Applications of room-temperature ionic liquid-based electrochemical biosensing.
► Room-temperature ionic liquids underpin development of electrochemical biosensors.