Graphene biosensors for bacterial and viral pathogens

The infection and spread of pathogens (e.g., COVID-19) pose an enormous threat to the safety of human beings and animals all over the world. The rapid and accurate monitoring and determination of pathogens are of great significance to clinical diagnosis, food safety and environmental evaluation. In recent years, with the evolution of nanotechnology, nano-sized graphene and graphene derivatives have been frequently introduced into the construction of biosensors due to their unique physicochemical properties and biocompatibility. The combination of biomolecules with specific recognition capabilities and graphene materials provides a promising strategy to construct more stable and sensitive biosensors for the detection of pathogens. This review tracks the development of graphene biosensors for the detection of bacterial and viral pathogens, mainly including the preparation of graphene biosensors and their working mechanism. The challenges involved in this field have been discussed, and the perspective for further development has been put forward, aiming to promote the development of pathogens sensing and the contribution to epidemic prevention.
Highlights • The infection and spread of pathogens threaten human health, the development of effective detection strategies is highly important and essential. • Graphene biosensor as one of effective nano-platforms is reviewed in the field of pathogen detection. • The preparation of graphene biosensors and their sensing mechanism are introduced and discussed. • The current challenges in this field and the perspective for further development are presented, which will be meaningful for pathogens sensing and epidemic prevention.