Nanomaterial-based electrochemical biosensors for medical applications

With recent advances in nanotechnology, great progress has been made in biosensors based on nanomaterials, but there are still numerous challenges to overcome. We describe nanomaterial-based biosensors for researchers new to the field, paying particular attention to metal nanoparticles and carbon nanotube (CNT)-based label-free approaches. Label-free monitoring of biorecognition events provides a promising platform, which is simple, cost-effective, and requires no external modification to biomolecules. Using examples from recent reports, we illustrate the diversity of biological recognition events and the range of experimental techniques employed for metal-nanoparticle-based and label-free characterization.