Graphene materials-based energy acceptor systems and sensors

• Review for advanced studies on sensors using graphene materials as energy acceptors.
• Graphene materials feature ultrahigh surface area and luminescence quenching efficiency.
• Graphene materials reveal competitive capability and high value in bio/chemo sensors.
• These graphene materials-based sensors are applied in assay of diverse subjects.
• Possible mechanisms involved in the energy transfer process are discussed.

Graphene materials have recently attracted considerable attention because of its extraordinary mechanical, electronic, thermal and optical properties, leading to the wide application of graphene such as in biology and energy areas. In recent years, energy-transfer based optical biosensors using graphene materials as the energy acceptors have become the focus of researches, which take the advantages of the high surface area and ultrahigh luminescence quenching efficiency of graphene materials. These sensors have extensively covered the detection of DNA, protein, enzyme activity, metal ions and other small molecules. In this review article, we aim to provide a comprehensive discussion on the development of the graphene materials-based energy acceptor systems and sensors, sorting the sensors according to the probes with which the energy acceptors are assembled to or conjugated with the luminescent energy donors. At the end we also present an overview of future perspective and possible challenges in this rapidly developing area.

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