Biosensors are analytical devices which find extensive applications in fields such as the food industry, defense sector, environmental monitoring, and in clinical diagnosis. Similarly, intrinsically conducting polymers (ICPs) and their composites have lured immense interest in bio‐sensing due to their various attributes like compatibility with biological molecules, efficient electron transfer upon biochemical reactions, loading of bio‐reagent, and immobilization of biomolecules. Further, they are proficient in sensing diverse biological species and compounds like glucose (detection limit ≈0.18 nm), DNA (≈10 pm), cholesterol (≈1 µm), aptamer (≈0.8 pm), and also cancer cells (≈5 pm mL−1) making them a potential candidate for biological sensing functions. ICPs and their composites have been extensively exploited by researchers in the field of biosensors owing to these peculiarities; however, no consolidated literature on the usage of conducting polymer composites for biosensing functions is available. This review extensively elucidates on ICP composites and doped conjugated polymers for biosensing functions of copious biological species. In addition, a brief overview is provided on various forms of biosensors, their sensing mechanisms, and various methods of immobilizing biological species along with the life cycle assessment of biosensors for various biosensing applications, and their cost analysis.
Phase-change
materials (PCMs) are utilized for thermal energy storage
(TES) to bridge the gap between supply and demand of energy. Organic
PCMs, similar to paraffins, fatty acids, and polyethylene glycol,
are extensively explored, thanks to their high TES capacity (∼5–10
times more than the sensible heat storage of water/rock), wide temperature
range (spanning from −5 °C to 190 °C), good thermal
stability over heating–cooling cycles (∼100 cycles),
etc. However, “leakage” of PCMs upon transformation
from solid to liquid has limited their usage as TES materials; thus,
PCMs are confined to a biopolymeric framework for circumventing seepages.
However, extensive analysis has concluded that there is a deficiency
in availability of consolidated data on biopolymeric-based framework
for PCMs. Thus, this review covers various literatures on the application
of assorted biopolymers as framework for PCM. Simultaneously, we have
also discussed on importance of biopolymers for constructing a framework
for PCMs. Finally, the review concludes with future prospects, along
with possibilities and disputes on the course of their practical application.
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