A review on recent advances in liquid crystal based sensors for detection of biomolecules

Liquid crystal (LC)-based biosensors have emerged as an attractive biosensor due to their high sensitivity to interfacial molecular interactions and their capability for label-free detection. This review summarizes recent advancements and emerging trends in LC-based biosensing platforms. The fundamental properties of LC materials, such as orientation-dependent optical behavior and interfacial responsiveness, are discussed in connection with recent advances in LC-based sensing strategies for biological and chemical detection. To facilitate real-world diagnostic applications using LC biosensors, existing challenges and future perspectives for the development of reliable and portable LC biosensing systems are also addressed. This review presents a systematic discussion of (a) the unique characteristics of LC enabled biosensors, (b) the classification of LC biosensors based on device geometry, (c) sensing mechanisms in planar, cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC), emulsion and electrochemical LC-based, (d) conventional and emerging LC biosensing configurations, including planar films, LC-aqueous interfaces, CLC systems, and emulsion-based platforms, (e) molecular recognition strategies for biomolecule detection, and (f) recent challenges and future directions. Overall, this review aims to provide a comprehensive resource for researchers and engineers working in the interdisciplinary field of LC-based biosensing and highlight the potential of LC platforms for next-generation diagnostic technologies.