New Materials Employment in the Electrochemical Sensors Development

Electrochemical sensors have been widely used in recent decades because they have many advantages such as high sensitivity, selectivity, stability, with the use of simple instrumentation low cost and can be successfully applied in the samples of clinical, environmental interest, and industry in general. Due to the versatility of these devices, they can be prepared from materials that provide higher reactivity and selectivity. The carbon based carbon materials are widely employed because of the ability to form a wide variety of composite materials. The composites based on graphene and carbon nanotubes have attracted great interest because they have important features, such as high speed in transferring electrons, high surface area, good chemical and mechanical stability, and therefore, they are used in the development of electrochemical sensors. Other promising materials used in the electrodes modification to electroanalytical applications are the Molecularly Imprinted Polymers and / or Ionically (MIP) and (IIP) that have become an important analytical tool due to the biomimetic recognition systems such as the specific antigen-antibody. These materials have many advantages when compared to organic systems such as ease of synthesis, stability in storage for long periods of time and cost. Some inorganic compounds have also been applied as modifiers of electrodes to enhance their electrochemical properties. Among these inorganic compounds, there are the nanoparticles of noble metals, which provide an increased surface area due to the nanoscale and nanostructured metal oxides that present numerous electronic properties and different applications. Thus this study aims to explore the use of new materials used in the development of electrochemical sensors.

Keywords: Carbon nanotubes, Carbon quantum dots, Electrochemical sensors, Fullerene, Graphene, Molecularly Imprinted Polymers and or Ionically (MIP) and (IIP), Nanofibers, Noble metal nanoparticles