Emerging graphene-based sensors for the detection of food adulterants and toxicants – A review

• Published in: Food chemistry Vol. 355; p. 129547
• Main Authors: Raghavan, Vikram Srinivasa, O'Driscoll, Benjamin, Bloor, J.M., Li, Bing, Katare, Prateek, Sethi, Jagriti, Gorthi, Sai Siva, Jenkins, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2021
• Subjects: Electricity; Food adulterants; Food Analysis - methods; Food Contamination - analysis; Food toxicants; Graphene; Graphene derivatives; Graphite - chemistry; Nanotechnology; Portable devices; Sensors; Food adulterants; Portable devices; Sensors; Food toxicants; Graphene; Graphene derivatives
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129547

•Graphene-based sensors review for trace-level detection of adulterants and toxicants.•Optical, electrical (field-effect) and electrochemical sensing approaches reviewed.•Conjugation with linkers and biomolecules causes sensitive and selective traits.•Overview of graphene-based sensors for portable devices as point-of-need platforms.•Future scope of disruptive graphene-based sensors used for detection in food products. The detection of food adulterants and toxicants can prevent a large variety of adverse health conditions for the global population. Through the process of rapid sensing enabled by deploying novel and robust sensors, the food industry can assist in the detection of adulterants and toxicants at trace levels. Sensor platforms which exploit graphene-based nanomaterials satisfy this requirement due to outstanding electrical, optical and thermal properties. The materials’ facile conjugation with linkers and biomolecules along with the option for further enhancement using nanoparticles results in highly sensitive and selective sensing characteristics. This review highlights novel applications of graphene derivatives for detection covering three important approaches; optical, electrical (field-effect) and electrochemical sensing. Suitable graphene-based sensors for portable devices as point-of-need platforms are also presented. The future scope of these sensors is discussed to showcase how these emerging techniques will disrupt the food detection sector for years to come.