Nanomaterials in Analytical Chemistry: Applications and Future Perspectives

Abstract

Nanomaterials revolutionize analytical chemistry owing to their outstanding optical, electrical, magnetic, and catalytic properties, increasing sensitivity, selectivity, and analytical speed of the methods applied in human clinical diagnostics. The current review presents a detailed description of the main types of nanomaterials used in analytical chemistry and their application in human biological sample analysis. These include gold nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, graphene-based nanomaterials, quantum dots, and magnetic nanoparticles. In addition, the review considers their analytical characteristics, procedures, advantages and limitations, as well as the role of nanomaterials in cancer biomarker detection, infectious diseases diagnostics, cardiovascular and metabolic biomarkers testing, drug therapeutic concentrations measurement, and many others. Moreover, it is important to discuss the current progress made in the area of nano-biosensors, lab-on-a-chip, microfluidic, wearable diagnostic platforms, and analytical techniques assisted with artificial intelligence regarding their contribution to rapid, sensitive and noninvasive diagnostics. Based on the currently available data, it can be said that nanomaterial-based analytical systems provide significantly higher analytical performance compared with the traditional ones owing to lower detection limits, faster response time, better diagnostic accuracy, and the ability to work with low amounts of human biological samples. Nevertheless, issues such as variability in nanomaterial preparation, absence of standardized analytical procedures, potential toxicity and regulatory problems, as well as insufficient large-scale human clinical trials hinder their clinical application. Further research should be conducted in the field of standardization of nanomaterial fabrication, multicenter human clinical trials, integration of nanomaterials with artificial intelligence and digital healthcare technologies, and the creation of safe, economical, and portable diagnostic systems. Overall, it can be concluded that nanomaterials represent an excellent basis for future analytical technologies.