Fluorescent Biosensors Based on Silicon Nanowires

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 11; no. 11; p. 2970
• Main Authors: Leonardi, Antonio Alessio, Lo Faro, Maria José, Fazio, Barbara, Spinella, Corrado, Conoci, Sabrina, Livreri, Patrizia, Irrera, Alessia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 05-11-2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Biomarkers; Biosensors; Chemical compounds; Data interpretation; Fabrication; Fluorescent indicators; fluorescent sensors; Fluorophores; light-emission; Nanomaterials; Nanoparticles; Nanosensors; Nanotechnology; Nanowires; Physical properties; Physiology; Quantum dots; Review; Selectivity; Sensors; Silicon; silicon nanowires
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano11112970

Nanostructures are arising as novel biosensing platforms promising to surpass current performance in terms of sensitivity, selectivity, and affordability of standard approaches. However, for several nanosensors, the material and synthesis used make the industrial transfer of such technologies complex. Silicon nanowires (NWs) are compatible with Si-based flat architecture fabrication and arise as a hopeful solution to couple their interesting physical properties and surface-to-volume ratio to an easy commercial transfer. Among all the transduction methods, fluorescent probes and sensors emerge as some of the most used approaches thanks to their easy data interpretation, measure affordability, and real-time in situ analysis. In fluorescent sensors, Si NWs are employed as substrate and coupled with several fluorophores, NWs can be used as quenchers in stem-loop configuration, and have recently been used for direct fluorescent sensing. In this review, an overview on fluorescent sensors based on Si NWs is presented, analyzing the literature of the field and highlighting the advantages and drawbacks for each strategy.