Applications

The first and more frequent applications of the sensors have been in the diagnostic medical field as glycemy, lactic acid, ect.

A lot of attention has been recently given to the development of biosensors to be used for testing and analysis in the food industry, pharmaceutical and environmental field. For instance in food chemical analysis, biosensors can be used:

• to analyse some components in the food, that must be measured with precision and care but at the same time in a cheap and quick way. This measuring system is now becoming more and more used also for pharmaceutical products.
• to analyse the presence of some chemical substances that are used as index, for example the microbic pollution or the deterioration of food, due for example to an oxidation process. Therefore, sensors can be used to check the freshness and to value the good conservation, at certain conditions, for short or long period of some food and pharmaceutical products, too;
• to realize the presence of some contaminating chemical compounds, of toxins or additives, ect.
• to analyse and read a chromatic process.

There are also many applications in the environmental field to determine the presence of pesticide, hydrocarbon, toxic gas and the water quality.

Biosensors are more and more used devices thanks to their easy-to-use characteristic, to their low cost and to the scientific reliability of the results. Biosensors offer a variety of advantages compared to the traditional methods of analysis. Thanks to their features and easy usage, they are particularly suited to be used once and throwaway, also by the less expert person at home. Besides, with the biosensors the pre-treatment of the sample to be tested is not necessary in most cases. For that reason, the analysis is very quick, it is more reliable and cost effective and a very low quantity of substance to be tested is needed. It is possible to produce biosensors with a rapid test, that give you results after 5-30 seconds, by enabling a continuous monitoring.

The reliable analysis, the easy use, and the low cost will make these types of biosensors more and more competitive and they will find application in most fields.

AGRICULTURAL	ALIMENTARY	PHARMACEUTICAL	INDUSTRIAL