Optical biosensors: a decade in review

Miniaturized, specific, rapid response and economical biosensors are finding applications in biotechnology, environmental studies, agriculture, food inspection and safety, disease diagnosis and medical utilities. Of the many categories of biosensors, optical biosensors have brought about an extra edge in sensing applications due to their selective, rapid and extremely sensitive measurements. Biosensors are analytical tools used to detect specific analytes such as cholesterol, urea, etc. having biomolecules such as nucleic acids, proteins, carbohydrates as key element for detecting these analytes along with a transducer and a data analysis and visualization tool. In case of optical biosensors the analyte is detected using light with either label based or label free techniques. In this paper some of the marked advances in the last decade in the field of optical biosensors have been reviewed with an emphasis on their fabrication approaches and growing application areas. Along with some of the carefully selected article on new developments in optical biosensors through the last decade, a brief historical review of optical biosensors since the breakthrough in optical biosensors in 1970s has also been presented. Another focus of the current review is the classification of biosensors, typical structures along with emerging developments in optical biosensing that are likely to impact the current decade. Major application areas and emerging applications through the last decade have been outlined to present a clear picture on the versatility of optical biosensors. Finally, the review also considers the challenges and future of emerging optical biosensing technologies in the current decade.