Essential elements of biosensor development for water quality monitoring

Water shortage and water pollution are urgent problems worldwide. Effective management of water resources requires a reliable and continuous monitoring of water quality to identify contamination and the source of pollution. Traditional analysis techniques based on laboratory instrumentation are insufficient to fulfil existing monitoring requirements. By utilizing miniaturised biosensors in water quality monitoring, real-time analysis which avoids sample degradation can be achieved on-site. This article reviews common used materials and fabrication techniques for lab-on-a-chip (LOC) system with sample-in-answer-out capability. Such systems will bring advantages such as low cost, high throughput and device portability to on-site determinations. The development of biosensor-based LOC systems is dependent on two essential elements: substrate material and fabrication techniques.