Advancements in polyaniline-based electrochemical sensors for glucose monitoring: enzymatic and non-enzymatic approaches

Monitoring blood glucose levels is a crucial aspect of daily diabetes management, serving both patients and medical practitioners. Despite the existence of an established glucose sensor market, the growing rate of diabetes has led to extensive research efforts aimed at developing more precise glucose monitoring systems. Polyaniline (PANI) is a remarkable conducting polymer that is made up of alternating single C-C and double C = C bonds. Additionally, it offers several benefits for sensor design, including high conductivity, biocompatibility, adaptability to environmental changes, good electrochemical capabilities, and antibacterial properties. In recent years, researchers have made significant progress in developing glucose sensors based on PANI, utilising both enzymatic and non-enzymatic approaches. Here, a comprehensive review of recent progress in enzymatic and non-enzymatic sensors developed from PANI and PANI-based materials is presented. Reported PANI-based glucose sensors exhibit excellent analytical performance, with limit of detection (LOD) values typically ranging from a few µM to a few mM levels and linearity ranges extending from µM to tens of mM glucose concentrations, depending on the material composition and sensing approach. This review also offers a comprehensive analysis of the fundamental concepts and most recent advancements in sensor design, with a focus on pure PANI and its composites consisting of carbon-derived materials and metals, along with an extensive investigation of current and potential applications of these materials in glucose sensing. We additionally explore the challenges involved in upgrading PANI-based glucose sensors into reliable and stable technology. Finally, the issues and practical considerations corresponding to sensors, and innovative methods for obtaining accurate and reliable sensors across several kinds of industries are discussed.