2D-material-based bio sensing and optoelectronic platforms: recent progress and challenges

This review elucidates recent advancements in two-dimensional (2D) material-based biosensing and optoelectronic platforms, with a focus on field-effect transistor (FET) biosensors and optical detection mechanisms for enhanced biomolecule recognition. Integration of graphene derivatives (e.g., GO, rGO, GQDs synthesized via CVD, liquid exfoliation, and epitaxial growth), transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs such as MoS₂ and WS₂), hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), and 2D metal oxides into FET architectures like ISFETs and MOSFETs yields superior sensitivity, biocompatibility, and real-time transduction through conductance modulation aligned with Debye screening lengths. Optical modalities, including surface plasmon resonance (SPR), fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), and evanescent waves, leverage these materials’ high surface area and tunable optical properties for detecting analytes such as DNA, proteins, glucose, and pathogens, outperforming conventional sensors in healthcare diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and point-of-care applications. Challenges persist in scalable synthesis, defect mitigation, and heterostructure integration, hindering commercialization despite promising attributes, such as TMDCs’ mechanical flexibility, high carrier mobility, and spin-valley coupling, for self-powered photodetectors. Ongoing refinements in fabrication and surface functionalization promise to turn these prototypes into robust devices, revolutionizing biosensing across the biotechnology sector.