Nanostructured Materials as Biosensor Transducers: Achievements and Future Developments

The two aspects of the further progress in the development of biosensors are in the consideration of this chapter; one of them is connected with the application of nanoparticles or nanostructured materials as transducer surface, and the second one is concerned with the use of artificial selective materials for increasing stability, simplicity, and cheapness of the analytical devices. The main attention is focused on optical devices based on photoluminescence (PhL) and photoconductivity measurements in nanostructured porous silicon, AgO, ZnO, TiO2, In2O3, and WO3 nanoparticles, carbon, Si and SiO2 nanotubes as well as other nanomaterials. The structural and optical properties of nanostructured transducers have been characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and other optical analytical approaches. The abilities of all analyzed biosensor complex are demonstrated at the determination of numerous chemical substances (T2 mycotoxin, aflatoxin, patulin, zearelenone, etc.) and diagnosis of retroviral bovine leucosis, salmonellosis, and others. In all cases, the results obtained with nanostructured biosensors are compared with data obtained by standard analytical methods. The most important results are achieved for biosensors based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) or total internal enhanced ellipsometry (TIRE). A special attention is paid to the results reported by the authors of the chapter.