Department of Analytical Chemistry and Organic Chemistry, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Campus Sescelades, c/. Marcel·lí Domingo, 1, 43007, Tarragona, Spain.
Anal Bioanal Chem. 2018 Jul;410(17):4077-4089. doi: 10.1007/s00216-018-1104-9. Epub 2018 May 28.
Despite predictions of their widespread application in healthcare and environmental monitoring, electrochemical sensors are yet to be distributed at scale, instead remaining largely confined to R&D labs. This contrasts sharply with the situation for physical sensors, which are now ubiquitous and seamlessly embedded in the mature ecosystem provided by electronics and connectivity protocols. Although chemical sensors could be integrated into the same ecosystem, there are fundamental issues with these sensors in the three key areas of analytical performance, usability, and affordability. Nevertheless, advances are being made in each of these fields, leading to hope that the deployment of automated and user-friendly low-cost electrochemical sensors is on the horizon. Here, we present a brief survey of key challenges and advances in the development of distributed electrochemical sensors for liquid samples, geared towards applications in healthcare and wellbeing, environmental monitoring, and homeland security. As will be seen, in many cases the analytical performance of the sensor is acceptable; it is usability that is the major barrier to commercial viability at this moment. Were this to be overcome, the issue of affordability could be addressed. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.
尽管电化学传感器在医疗保健和环境监测中的应用前景广阔，但它们仍未大规模推广，而是主要局限于研发实验室。这与物理传感器形成鲜明对比，后者现在无处不在，无缝嵌入电子和连接协议提供的成熟生态系统中。尽管化学传感器可以集成到相同的生态系统中，但在分析性能、可用性和可负担性这三个关键领域，这些传感器存在根本问题。然而，这些领域都在取得进展，这让人们有希望看到自动化和用户友好型低成本电化学传感器的部署即将实现。在这里，我们简要介绍了用于液体样本的分布式电化学传感器的开发中的关键挑战和进展，这些传感器面向医疗保健和健康、环境监测和国土安全等应用。正如将看到的，在许多情况下，传感器的分析性能是可以接受的；可用性是当前实现商业可行性的主要障碍。如果克服了这一障碍，那么可负担性问题就可以得到解决。
