Micro and nanoparticles in biosensing systems for food safety and environmental monitoring. An example of converging technologies

We report on the integration of micro and nanostructured materials in biosensing devices to obtain analytical nano-bio-systems with improved performance. The simplest case of electrochemical biosensing presented here is based on graphite microparticles to obtain a graphite-epoxy composite. The integration of the bioreceptor within the composite provides an analytical biosystem with improved performances for biosensing. The further addition of gold nanoparticles results in an analytical nano-bio-system which allows an improved strategy for the immobilization of the bioreceptor. And finally, the integration of magnetic beads to graphite-epoxy composite magneto electrodes provides further advantages in terms of separation of the analyte from complex matrix and enhanced biological reactions, resulting in analytical magneto-nano-bio-systems. The application of these systems mainly in food safety and environmental monitoring are reported. The benefits of the integration of these materials to obtain improved analytical systems are discussed and represent an example of converging technologies. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.