Erdem Özgecan, Derin Esma, Sagdic Kutay, Yilmaz Eylul Gulsen, Inci Fatih
UNAM-National Nanotechnology Research Center, Bilkent University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey.
Institute of Materials Science and Nanotechnology, Bilkent University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey.
Emergent Mater. 2021;4(1):169-185. doi: 10.1007/s42247-020-00150-w. Epub 2021 Jan 21.
After the first case has appeared in China, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose an omnipresent threat to global health, affecting more than 70 million patients and leading to around 1.6 million deaths. To implement rapid and effective clinical management, early diagnosis is the mainstay. Today, real-time reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR test is the major diagnostic practice as a gold standard method for accurate diagnosis of this disease. On the other side, serological assays are easy to be implemented for the disease screening. Considering the limitations of today's tests including lengthy assay time, cost, the need for skilled personnel, and specialized infrastructure, both strategies, however, have impediments to be applied to the resource-scarce settings. Therefore, there is an urgent need to democratize all these practices to be applicable across the globe, specifically to the locations comprising of very limited infrastructure. In this regard, sensor systems have been utilized in clinical diagnostics largely, holding great potential to have pivotal roles as an alternative or complementary options to these current tests, providing crucial fashions such as being suitable for point-of-care settings, cost-effective, and having short turnover time. In particular, the integration of smart materials into sensor technologies leverages their analytical performances, including sensitivity, linear dynamic range, and specificity. Herein, we comprehensively review major smart materials such as nanomaterials, photosensitive materials, electrically sensitive materials, their integration with sensor platforms, and applications as wearable tools within the scope of the COVID-19 diagnosis.
在中国出现首例病例后，新冠疫情继续对全球健康构成普遍威胁，感染患者超过7000万，导致约160万人死亡。为实施快速有效的临床管理，早期诊断是关键。如今，实时逆转录酶（RT）-PCR检测作为准确诊断该疾病的金标准方法，是主要的诊断手段。另一方面，血清学检测便于进行疾病筛查。然而，考虑到当今检测方法存在的局限性，如检测时间长、成本高、需要专业人员和专门的基础设施，这两种策略在资源匮乏地区的应用都存在障碍。因此，迫切需要普及所有这些检测方法，使其在全球范围内都能适用，特别是在基础设施非常有限的地区。在这方面，传感系统已在很大程度上应用于临床诊断，作为当前检测方法的替代或补充选项具有巨大潜力，具有适合即时检测、成本效益高和周转时间短等关键优势。特别是，将智能材料集成到传感技术中可提升其分析性能，包括灵敏度、线性动态范围和特异性。在此，我们全面综述了纳米材料、光敏材料、电敏材料等主要智能材料，它们与传感器平台的集成以及在新冠诊断范围内作为可穿戴工具的应用。
