One- and two-dimensional nanostructures for chemical- and biosensing

Nanostructures have been very popular for several years to do research on sensing. In this paper we will demonstrate the advantage of using nanowires of zinc oxide (ZnO) as one dimensional structure for potentiometric measurements in biological environments. The developed procedures show suitability for the accurate determination of most of the important metal ions and to characterize cells and thin bio-layers. We will also show how to use these structures for biosensing of glucose, cholesterol, and the application of extended gate metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors as the signal transducer. In the second part, we will show how to use a two-dimensional nanostructure, specifically graphene, for cholesterol and glucose biosensing. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.