Recent Advances in Metal Nanocomposite-Based Electrochemical (Bio)Sensors for Pharmaceutical Analysis

Abstract

Rising rates of drug abuse and pharmaceutical pollution throughout the world as a consequence of increased drug production and utilization pose a serious risk to public health and to environmental integrity. It is thus critical that reliable analytical approaches to detecting drugs and their metabolites in a range of sample matrices be developed. Recent advances in the design of nanomaterial-based electrochemical sensors and biosensors have enabled promising new approaches to pharmaceutical analysis. In particular, the development of a range of novel metal nanocomposites with enhanced catalytic properties has provided a wealth of opportunities for the design of rapid and reliable platforms for the detection of specific pharmaceutical compounds. The present review provides a comprehensive overview of representative metal nanocomposites with synergistic properties and their recent (2017–2022) application in the context of electrochemical sensing as a means of detecting specific antibiotic, tuberculostatic, analgesic, antineoplastic, antipsychotic, and antihypertensive drugs. In discussing these applications, we further explore a variety of testing-related principles, fabrication approaches, characterization techniques, and parameters associated with the sensitivity and selectivity of these sensor platforms before surveying the future outlook regarding the fabrication of next-generation (bio)sensor platforms for use in pharmaceutical analysis.

Keywords:

• Biosensors
• electrochemical sensors
• metal
• nanocomposites
• pharmaceutical analysis

Additional information

Funding

This study was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (Grant No. 20JCYBJC00200); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant No. 81973944); Youth Talent Promotion Project of the Tianjin Association for Science and Technology (Grant No. TJSQNTJ-2020-15); Innovation Team and Talents Cultivation Program of National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Grant No. ZYYCXTD-D-202002); the Scientific Research Project of Tianjin Municipal Education Commission (Grant No. 2021KJ122).