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Biosensors and Instrumentation: Lecture 1: Introduction To Chemical Sensors & Biosensors

This document provides an introduction to chemical sensors and biosensors. It defines a biosensor as a chemical sensor that uses a biological component like an enzyme, antibody, or cell to detect analytes. Biosensors can use whole organisms, cells, or biological molecules in their detection. They are used in medical applications and for determining food and environmental quality. Biosensors typically have two stages - a biological recognition element that selectively detects the analyte, and a transducer that converts this to an electrical signal. An example is given of a glucose biosensor that uses the enzyme glucose oxidase and detects changes in oxygen or hydrogen peroxide levels. Key parameters for biosensors like sensitivity, range, and response time are also defined.

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225 views

Biosensors and Instrumentation: Lecture 1: Introduction To Chemical Sensors & Biosensors

This document provides an introduction to chemical sensors and biosensors. It defines a biosensor as a chemical sensor that uses a biological component like an enzyme, antibody, or cell to detect analytes. Biosensors can use whole organisms, cells, or biological molecules in their detection. They are used in medical applications and for determining food and environmental quality. Biosensors typically have two stages - a biological recognition element that selectively detects the analyte, and a transducer that converts this to an electrical signal. An example is given of a glucose biosensor that uses the enzyme glucose oxidase and detects changes in oxygen or hydrogen peroxide levels. Key parameters for biosensors like sensitivity, range, and response time are also defined.

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shiraz
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Biosensors and Instrumentation

Lecture 1: Introduction to Chemical Sensors & Biosensors


Summary Notes:
Chemical sensors are defined as measurement devices which utilise chemical or biological reactions
to detect and quantify a specific analyte or event. The terms sensor, transducer, detector, are often
used to mean the same thing. They are devices that convert one form of energy into another and
produce a usable energy output in response to a specific measurable input. For chemical sensors, a
transducer plus an active surface is termed a sensor. To distinguish biosensors from chemical
sensors we define a biosensor as one which uses, as its active detection component, a biomolecule
(e.g., an enzyme, antibody, or cell membrane receptor), or a cell or biological tissue. The
International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) provides the recognised definition of
a biosensor as:
“A device that uses specific biochemical reactions mediated by isolated enzymes,
immunosystems, tissues, organelles or whole cells to detect chemical compounds
usually by electrical, thermal or optical signals.”1
Examples of biosensors
• Whole organism:
- A canary used to detect poison gas in a mine
- Wasps or other insects used to detect explosives?
• Whole cell:
- Micro-organism that fluoresces in the presence of arsenic
- Synthetic biology research from Edinburgh
• Bio-molecular:
- Glucose sensor: Glucose oxidase enzyme
- Can require a mediator of electron transfer
Applications:
Biosensors are used for medical care (both clinical and laboratory use), the determination of food
quality, the detection of environmental pollutants, industrial process control, and by law
enforcement and defence agencies.
Biosensor Structure
Biosensors are commonly tandem sensors consisting of two or more sensing stages. The first stage is
the biological element which employs some sort of molecular recognition. The selectivity of this
stage may be defined by the sensor itself but there is often an additional coating which selectively
allows the desired analyte to diffuse through to the sensor. This can also serve to protect the
biological element from the environment and extend the lifetime of the sensor. The biological sensor
itself usually does not transduce the parameter being sensed into a useful electrical signal. This is
what the second stage does and, referring to the example of the glucose sensor again, the simplest
type uses amperometric redox measurement to sense either the depletion of oxygen or the
production of hydrogen peroxide caused by the enzymatic reaction.

1 IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book"). Compiled by A. D. McNaught and A.
Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1997). XML on-line corrected version: http://goldbook.iupac.org
(2006-) created by M. Nic, J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN 0-9678550-9-8. https://doi.org/
10.1351/goldbook.B00663.
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Biosensor Parameters:
We will regularly refer to the glucose sensor described in a paper by J. Zhu et al (‘Planar
amperometric glucose sensor based on glucose oxidase immobilized by chitosan film on Prussian
Blue layer’, Sensors, 2: 127-136, 2002) which has been provided.
Sensitivity: A sensor detects a chemical input ‘Iin’ and then transduces or converts it to a more
useful (usually electrical) form, Iout = F(Iin). It is often the case that the output characteristic is
linear, so that the sensitivity of the sensor can be defined as the slope of the output characteristic
curve (∆Iout/∆I) - over a specified linear range. For example, for the glucose sensor described by
Zhu et al, we are informed: ‘Under the selective conditions the sensor exhibits excellent sensitivity
of 98 nA/M and a linear range of 0.1-6.0 mM’. More generally, the sensitivity is defined as the
minimum input of chemical parameter that will create a detectable output change.
Range: The range of the sensor is the maximum and minimum values of the target analyte that
can be measured. For the Zhu et al sensor, the minimum is 0.1 mM and the maximum is 20 mM
(but the response is not linear above 6 mM).
Response Time: Sensors do not change output state immediately when an input parameter
change occurs. Rather, it will change to the new state over a period of time, called the response
time. The response time can be defined as the time required for a sensor output to change
from its previous state to a final settled value within a tolerance band of the correct
new value. This concept is somewhat different from the notion of the time constant of the system.
This term can be defined in a manner similar to that for a capacitor charging through a resistance
and is usually less than the response time. Zhu et al, state that the response times for their sensor
were 42 sec. for a concentration change from 0 to 6 mM, and 60 sec for reversion, respectively.
Other important characteristics of sensors (e.g., Precision, Accuracy, Limit of Detection, Effects of
pH and Temperature, Calibration, Anti-interference Testing, and Long-term Stability) will also be
discussed and some are demonstrated in the slides handout for the glucose sensor.

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