Electrolyte-gated organic transistors for biosensing applications

The interfacing of biomaterials to electronic devices is one of the most challenging research fields that has relevance to both fundamental studies and the development of highly performing biosensors. Important aspects connected to the field of biosensors based on electrolyte-gated organic transistors are discussed. The main features of biomolecules used as recognition elements along with the strategies reported so far for their deposition on the biosensors transducer surface are presented. An introduction of the involving surface interactions such as covalent binding, physical adsorption, self-assembly and bio-affinity binding strategy is given. Besides, the most relevant surface materials for electronic biosensors development are analysed. In the last part, different electronic biosensors based on electrolyte-gated organic transistors are presented. Particular attention is paid to the biosensors operation mechanism and to the analytical figure of merits. Specific applications such as DNA and proteins detection are also discussed.