Bacterial cellulose-based biosensors

Abstract

One of the current challenges in biosensors is to develop a device with high biocatalytic activity, high sensitivity, high selectivity, low detection limit, fast response towards the analyte, eco-friendly and also low-cost price. Bacterial cellulose (BC), a pure mat of nanosized cellulose fibres, represents an alternative to the development of new materials for sensing applications. BC has a high surface area, high porosity and water absorbance, and it is a biocompatible and eco-friendly polymer. In order to produce BC-based materials for sensing devices, the original BC network can be preserved or destroyed. In both cases, the introduction of a second phase in order to improve or modify the properties of native BC is possible. Metal nanoparticles, metal oxides, carbon-based materials, conductive polymers and enzymes are among the materials that have been combined with BC to prepare novel biosensor platforms. BC biosensors can be classified according to their output signal as resonant, optical or electrochemical biosensors. Some of the applications of BC-based biosensors include pollutant biosensors, humidity, mass and gas biosensors, and biomedical biosensors to detect glucose and dopamine, among other sensing targets.