Nanomaterials as electrochemical detectors in microfluidics and CE: Fundamentals, designs, and applications

Abstract

The different approaches for constructing nanomaterial-based detectors for conventional CE and microchip electrophoresis are described in this review. They include three main types of nanomaterials, including carbon nanotubes, nanoparticles, and nanorods in various designs. The fundamental reasons for the enhanced detection performance of nanomaterial-based detectors, such as higher sensitivity, improved limits of detection, and higher peak capacity, are discussed in detail. Various applications for biomedical, food, and environmental analyses are reviewed. © 2009 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.