Electrochemical DNA sensors: From nanoconstruction to biosensing

Electrochemical DNA sensors have been increasingly fascinating due to high sensitivity, specificity, portability and integrated compatibilities with microelectronics. Numerous strategies have been developed to design electrochemical DNA sensors with high sensitivity and selectivity. In this review, we will focus on the efforts toward sensitive electrochemical DNA sensing based on nanomaterials including metal nanoparticles, magnetic nanoparticles, semiconductor nanoparticles and carbon nanomaterials, especially carbon nanotubes. The potential application of the electrochemical DNA sensors in gene analysis, diagnosis, environmental and food safety monitoring will be briefly discussed. At the end of this review, we will give a brief outlook of the future challenges of electrochemical DNA sensors.