Carbon‐Based Luminescent Nanosensors

Abstract

Carbon nanomaterials have raised great attention in the past years for the development of luminescent nanosensors. These nanomaterials possess excellent photoluminescence properties, which combined with their low cytotoxicity and high biocompatibility make them ideal platforms for (bio)sensing. In this article, we have focused on recently developed fluorescent carbon nanomaterials such as graphene quantum dots, graphene oxide, and carbon dots, which have emerged as alternative to conventional dyes and semiconductor quantum dots. The different mechanisms underlying the sensors are discussed and examples of (bio)sensors involving these nanomaterials are described. The combination of two nanomaterials in the same sensing scheme has been widely employed in the past years combining both the emission properties of nanomaterials and their quenching ability. Finally, examples of sensors based on carbon nanomaterials developed for the determination of other nanomaterials of the same or different nature are presented.