What is an Electrochemical Biosensor?
Electrochemical biosensors are innovative devices that are able to perform highly sensitive assays in short periods of time. For healthcare, environmental sciences and biotechnology, these types of biosensors have the potential to drive breakthroughs in real-time monitoring, early disease detection and precision diagnostics.
However, despite their potential, the fabrication of these biosensors involve high costs, poor scalability and difficult reproducibility that has limited their widespread application. But with new innovative carbon nanomaterials, this is set to change. This is the start of a new era of easily accessible and modular electrochemical biosensors with unprecedented accuracy, reproducibility and commercial viability.
Understanding electrochemical biosensors
An electrochemical biosensor is a device that detects target molecules by converting biochemical interactions between an analyte and bioreceptor into an electrical signal. It consists of three main components.
Biorecognition element – a biomolecule (such as an enzyme, antibody, or DNA probe) placed on the transducer that specifically binds to the target analyte (e.g., glucose, cortisol or cytokines like interleukin-10).
Transducer (electrode system) – converts the biochemical interaction between the biomolecule and analyte into an electrical signal. Electrochemical biosensors commonly use:
- Amperometric sensors (measures current)
- Potentiometric sensors (measures voltage)
- Impedimetric sensors (measures resistance changes)
Signal processing system – the electrical signal generated is processed and interpreted to provide a quantitative measurement of the analyte.
What are the specific benefits of electrochemical biosensors?
Precision and sensitivity in every measurement
Electrochemical sensors detect even trace amounts of target molecules, making them invaluable for early disease detection and contamination monitoring. Their selectivity comes from tailored biorecognition elements that ensure accurate, interference-free results.
Real-time insights with a rapid response
These biosensors generate electrical signals the moment an analyte binds, providing near-instantaneous readings. This rapid response is essential for point-of-care testing, allowing healthcare professionals to make immediate, data-driven decisions.
Portable and seamlessly integrated
Their small size allows for easy miniaturisation into portable and wearable devices, enabling continuous health monitoring outside traditional lab environments. They also showcase seamless integration with digital platforms that supports remote diagnostics and real-time data tracking.
User-friendly and minimal sample requirements
Requiring only small biological samples, these sensors reduce invasiveness and improve patient comfort. Their ease of use, with minimal preparation, makes them practical for frequent testing and home diagnostics.
Multiplexing – one sensor, multiple targets
Modern electrochemical biosensors can detect multiple biomarkers on a single platform, streamlining diagnostics and reducing the need for multiple tests. Traditionally, different analytes required separate systems, but advanced biosensing now consolidates detection into a single device, enabling more efficient and accessible point-of-care applications.
Why have electrochemical biosensors not achieved widespread use?
Despite their promise, electrochemical biosensors remain underutilised beyond glucose monitoring. This is primarily due to limitations in existing transducer materials that provide the necessary electrochemical properties.
- Graphene and graphite: While these carbon-based materials offer excellent conductivity for electrochemical biosensors, their batch-to-batch reproducibility is poor. Graphene production is difficult to control at scale, leading to variability in sensor performance, while graphite presents challenges due to toxic byproducts and complex fabrication processes.
- Gold and platinum: These noble metals provide relatively high sensitivity and stability but suffer from supply chain constraints and prohibitive costs, making large-scale implementation difficult.
For electrochemical biosensors to fulfil their potential, a new material is required, one that is reproducible, scalable, cost-effective and exceptionally sensitive.
The potential of electrochemical biosensors with a reproducible carbon nanomaterial
Novel carbon nanomaterials like Gii are emerging to overcome the shortcomings of traditional transducer materials. They are highly scalable, easy to fabricate with minimal batch-to-batch variation and offer superior electrochemical performance. This makes it a transformative material for biosensing applications, unlocking potential use cases previously unattainable with existing technologies. Here are a few key examples.
- Healthcare: Detection of biomarkers such as cortisol for stress monitoring, interleukin-10 for inflammatory response analysis and lactate for metabolic assessments.
- Environmental monitoring: Real-time detection of heavy metals, nitrates and organic pollutants in water supplies.
- Food safety: Rapid identification of pathogens and chemical contaminants to ensure food quality and compliance.
- Wearables and point-of-care diagnostics: Integration into smart devices for continuous health monitoring without the need for laboratory infrastructure.
The future of electrochemical biosensors
Electrochemical biosensors are indispensable tools in modern diagnostics, offering precision and real-time capabilities. With Gii, electrochemical biosensors can finally move beyond their limited use cases. By addressing fundamental material challenges, Gii-powered biosensors promise to redefine diagnostic capabilities across multiple industries. The commercialisation of Gii-based biosensors will open doors to widespread, cost-effective and highly accurate real-time monitoring solutions, making precision diagnostics more accessible than ever.