Nanomaterial-Enhanced Sensors for Biomarker Detection: Improving Accuracy and Feasibility for Point-of-Care Early Detection Devices

Abstract

The diagnosis at the early stage enhances the patient’s outcome, influences treatment efficacy, and reduces the cost of health care. Nanomaterial-enhanced sensors represent an important step in developing point-of-care diagnostic devices highly sensitive and specific for disease biomarkers. This paper presents an overview of the research studies on how the introduction of nanomaterials like gold nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide, and quantum dots has already helped advance biosensor research by greatly improving the sensitivities and feasibility of portable point-of-care devices for the early onset and detection of diseases like cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and infectious diseases. This paper thoroughly explores the integration of diverse nanomaterials, such as gold nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, graphene, and quantum dots, with biosensing technologies, which have proved surprisingly effective at improving biosensor performance, particularly in respect to the detection of nucleic acids, proteins, and metabolites associated with early stages of disease. We then go on to describe how nanomaterials functionalized biosensors contribute to the improvement of POC accuracies and feasibility, such as real-time, label-free, and multiplexed biomarker detection. Other challenges the field currently faces that we outline include the scalability of nanomaterials for production, the stability and biocompatibility of sensors, and considerations related to regulation. We also emphasize areas of future directions in this regard toward the elimination of barriers. Microfluidic integration with nanomaterial-enhanced biosensors is one promising avenue for creating compact, user-friendly POC devices that can be applied either in clinical settings or resource-limited venues. This article provides an overview of recent advances aimed at emphasizing how nanomaterials may revolutionize diagnostic technology in advancing early disease detection and personalized health care.