title: Molecularly Imprinted Nanomaterials for Sensor Applications.
abstract: Molecular imprinting is a well-established technology to mimic antibody-antigen interaction in a synthetic platform. Molecularly imprinted polymers and nanomaterials usually possess outstanding recognition capabilities. Imprinted nanostructured materials are characterized by their small sizes, large reactive surface area and, most importantly, with rapid and specific analysis of analytes due to the formation of template driven recognition cavities within the matrix. The excellent recognition and selectivity offered by this class of materials towards a target analyte have found applications in many areas, such as separation science, analysis of organic pollutants in water, environmental analysis of trace gases, chemical or biological sensors, biochemical assays, fabricating artificial receptors, nanotechnology,etc.We present here a concise overview and recent developments in nanostructured imprinted materials with respect to various sensor systems, e.g., electrochemical, optical and mass sensitive,etc.Finally, in light of recent studies, we conclude the article with future perspectives and foreseen applications of imprinted nanomaterials in chemical sensors.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lahore 54590, Pakistan. leo_star126@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Irshad
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Biomedical Materials, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Defence Road, Lahore 54000, Pakistan. naseeriqbal@ciitlahore.edu.pk.
authors.forename: Naseer
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Iqbal
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lahore 54590, Pakistan. adnanmujahid.chem@pu.edu.pk.
authors.forename: Adnan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mujahid
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Biomedical Materials, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Defence Road, Lahore 54000, Pakistan. adeelafzal@kfupm.edu.sa.|Affiliated Colleges in Hafr Al-Batin, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, P.O. Box 1803, Hafr Al-Batin 31991, Saudi Arabia. adeelafzal@kfupm.edu.sa.
authors.forename: Adeel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Afzal
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lahore 54590, Pakistan. tjml786@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Tajamal
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hussain
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lahore 54590, Pakistan. ahsansharif@pu.edu.pk.
authors.forename: Ahsan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharif
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lahore 54590, Pakistan. ejazahmad@pu.edu.pk.
authors.forename: Ejaz
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lahore 54590, Pakistan. makshoofathar@pu.edu.pk.
authors.forename: Muhammad Makshoof
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Athar
keywords: molecularly imprinted polymers; nanomaterials; nanotechnology; sensors