Nanomaterials-based Field Effect Transistor biosensor for cancer therapy

Biosensors made of nanomaterials play a prominent part in diagnostic applications in the biomedical domain. The peculiar characteristics of nanomaterials including quantum effects, self-assembly, and larger surface area make them an irresistible choice for biomedical applications. Cancer is one of the life-threatening diseases across the world and the second leading cause of death. Early diagnosing has its advantages, such as treating the cancer in the primary stage helps in the faster recovery of patients. Many enzymatic/protein assays and biosensors have been developed for early-stage cancer diagnosis. Despite many types of biosensors available for biosensing applications, Field Effect Transistor biosensors (FET) prove to be an excellent choice due to their minimalistic size, high versatility, low noise, and high reliability for detecting a life-threatening disease cancer. FETs made of nanomaterials can provide sensitive, specific, and precise detection of cancer biomarkers, assisting cancer diagnosis in its early stages. Certain significant factors like selectivity, anti-interference, sensitivity, reproducibility, reusability, disposability, economic viability, large-scale production, and operational conditions determine the efficiency of the FET biosensor in diagnosing cancers. Many works are being carried out to meet the above demands for FET-based biosensors. Various nanomaterials are employed to fabricate the FET, and their performances are so incredible. This review provides insight into various nanotechnology-based FET biosensors such as Graphene Carbon Dots-based FET, Carbon nanotubes (CNT)-based FET, Silicon nanowire-based FET, Polycrystalline Si nanowire-based FET, Graphene Oxide-based FET, Indium Selenide (InSe)-based FET, Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂)-based FET, Zinc oxide (ZnO)-based FET, Tungsten diselenide (WSe₂)-based FET, MXene-based FET, and nanocomposites-based FET. Subsequently, their applications in early cancer diagnosis are also comprehensively discussed including their various fabrication approaches for binding different bioreceptors such as enzymes, cells, aptamers, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and antibodies followed by targeting the specific analyte of cancer cells.