This review overviews the recent development of nanomaterials for the application of electrochemical non-enzymatic glucose biosensors. The electrocatalytic mechanism and glucose sensing performance of a variety of nanostructured materials including metallic nanoparticles, metal oxides, metal complexes, alloys and carbon nanomaterials are discussed. The merits and shortfalls of each nanomaterial as electrocatalyst for non-enzymatic biosensing are evaluated and the prospects of non-enzymatic glucose biosensors are presented.

In this minireview, we discuss the emerging optical biosensing and bioimaging techniques that leverage the unique optical properties of gold nanoparticles.

We report a novel composite material of hierarchically structured Mn₃O₄ grown on three-dimensional graphene foam (3DGF). This hierarchical Mn₃O₄/3DGF composite was fabricated as a flexible and freestanding biosensor for nonenzymatic determination of glucose and H₂O₂, significant analytes in health care and food industry. The Mn₃O₄/3DGF-based biosensor achieved high sensitivity, large linear range and low detection limit for the detection of both analytes, due to the synergistic effects of the two materials, which combines the high electrocatalytic activity of the nanostructured Mn₃O₄ network, and high conductivity and large surface area of 3DGF. This enzymeless biosensor also exhibited excellent performance for real-time detection of glucose and H₂O₂ in serum and food samples.

A novel nanoplatelet-like structure of the composites of polypyrrole (PPy) and graphene (GR) is facilely synthesized by an electrochemical method and is further employed as a supercapacitor. The nanocomposite of PPy/GR shows a porous structure with a specific surface area of as high as 136.5 m² g⁻¹. As a result, the composite material exhibits a high specific capacitance of 285 F g⁻¹ at a discharge rate of 0.5 A g⁻¹, and excellent cycling stability. Specifically, over 90% of its initial capacitance can be retained after 1000 charge/discharge cycles. With advantageous features, such as facile fabrication process, high specific capacitance and excellent cycle life, this electrochemically synthesized PPy/GR nanocomposite is quite promising for high-performance supercapacitor applications.