Electroanalytical Methods Based on Hybrid Nanomaterials

Abstract

Hybrid nanomaterials, defined as an intentional combination of at least a nanomaterial with one or more materials, at an atomic or a nanometer level of mixture, complementing each other to have new or improved functions and properties which component materials did not possess, provide new possibilities for electroanalytical methods The relevant functional properties of nanomaterials can be tuned, in an unimaginable manner, by rational combination with other materials. This fact opens an exciting door for sensor and biosensor technology, which is well supported by the advances in other areas such as surface science, organic and inorganic synthesis, polymer and biomolecular chemistry, and nanotechnology. This article provides a general sight state of the art on the use of nanosized hybrid materials as transduction, amplification, and labeling elements for the establishment of original electrochemical methods of analysis, exemplified with some of the most relevant research published in the past 5 years. The article is divided into two main categories: (i) electrochemical sensors based on hybrid nanomaterials of inorganic–organic, inorganic–inorganic, and organic–organic composition hybrid nanomaterials; (ii) electrochemical biosensors making use of metal nanostructures, carbon nanomaterials, metal and nonmetal oxide nanomaterials, and soft-nanomaterials hybrids. Keywords: hybrid nanomaterials; functionalized surfaces; electrochemical sensors; electrochemical biosensors