Multi-branched PdPt nanodendrites decorated amino-rich Fe-based metal-organic framework as signal amplifier for ultrasensitive electrochemical detection of prolactin

Nano-Engineered Surface Comprising Metallic Dendrites for Biomolecular Analysis in Clinical Perspective

Metallic dendrites, a class of three-dimensional nanostructured materials, have drawn a lot of interests in the recent years because of their interesting hierarchical structures and distinctive features. They are a hierarchical self-assembled array of primary, secondary, and terminal branches with a plethora of pointed ends, ridges, and edges. These features provide them with larger active surface areas. Due to their enormous active areas, the catalytic activity and conductivity of these nanostructures are higher as compared to other nanomaterials; therefore, they are increasingly used in the fabrication of sensors. This review begins with the properties and various synthetic approaches of nanodendrites. The primary goal of this review is to summarize various nanodendrites-engineered biosensors for monitoring of small molecules, macromolecules, metal ions, and cells in a wide variety of real matrices. Finally, to enlighten future research, the limitations and future potential of these newly discovered materials are discussed.

Heterometallic nanomaterials: activity modulation, sensing, imaging and therapy

Heterometallic nanomaterials (HMNMs) display superior physicochemical properties and stability to monometallic counterparts, accompanied by wider applications in the fields of catalysis, sensing, imaging, and therapy due to synergistic effects between multi-metals in HMNMs. So far, most reviews have mainly concentrated on introduction of their preparation approaches, morphology control and applications in catalysis, assay of heavy metal ions, and antimicrobial activity. Therefore, it is very important to summarize the latest investigations of activity modulation of HMNMs and their recent applications in sensing, imaging and therapy. Taking the above into consideration, we briefly underline appealing chemical/physical properties of HMNMs chiefly tailored through the sizes, shapes, compositions, structures and surface modification. Then, we particularly emphasize their widespread applications in sensing of targets (e.g. metal ions, small molecules, proteins, nucleic acids, and cancer cells), imaging (frequently involving photoluminescence, fluorescence, Raman, electrochemiluminescence, magnetic resonance, X-ray computed tomography, photoacoustic imaging, etc.), and therapy (e.g. radiotherapy, chemotherapy, photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy, and chemodynamic therapy). Finally, we present an outlook on their forthcoming directions. This timely review would be of great significance for attracting researchers from different disciplines in developing novel HMNMs.