Nanoparticles in Biosensor Design for the Agrifood Sector

In the last years, there was an increasing demand for portable, affordable, and effective diagnostics for the agrifood sector. Advances in nanotechnology have led to the design of nanostructured (bio)sensors with excellent analytical features in terms of stability, sensitivity, specificity, and versatility. Nanoparticles play a crucial role in the design of smart nano(bio)sensors, demonstrating their ability to enhance the analytical performances of such diagnostics when exploited as transducers, signal amplifiers, biocomponent labels, support modifiers, as well as to design nanoelectronics, microfluidics, and lab-on-chip. This has allowed for the development of nano(bio)sensors custom-made for specific purposes according to the need of the whole agrifood system, from crop field monitoring to food processing, packaging, and storage, as well as for the assessment of food quality and safety. Herein, we report an overview on nanoparticle classification, synthesis, and characterization, as well as their exploitation in the design of nano(bio)sensors for the agrifood sector.