A critical review on the use of potentiometric based biosensors for biomarkers detection

Potentiometric-based biosensors have the potential to advance the detection of several biological compounds and help in early diagnosis of various diseases. They belong to the portable analytical class of biosensors for monitoring biomarkers in the human body. They contain ion-sensitive membranes sensors can be used to determine potassium, sodium, and chloride ions activity while being used as a biomarker to gauge human health. The potentiometric based ion-sensitive membrane systems can be coupled with various techniques to create a sensitive tool for the fast and early detection of cancer biomarkers and other critical biological compounds. This paper discusses the application of potentiometric-based biosensors and classifies them into four major categories: photoelectrochemical potentiometric biomarkers, potentiometric biosensors amplified with molecular imprinted polymer systems, wearable potentiometric biomarkers and light-addressable potentiometric biosensors. This review demonstrated the development of several innovative biosensor-based techniques that could potentially provide reliable tools to test biomarkers. Some challenges however remain, but these can be removed by coupling techniques to maximize the testing sensitivity. •Potentiometric based systems for the sensing of biomarkers.•Pharmaceutical and biological specimens sensing.•Simple strategies for bio-sensing of biomarkers.