Review—A Pencil Drawing Overview: From Graphite to Electrochemical Sensors/Biosensors Applications
Vanessa N. Ataide, Iana V. S. Arantes, Letícia F. Mendes, Danielly S. Rocha, Thaísa A. Baldo, Wendell K. T. Coltro, Thiago R. L. C. Paixão
Abstract
Much effort was made in the literature to put pencil-drawing as an attractive way to fabricate electrochemical sensors. The pencil drawing is one of the easiest, cost-effective, unique single-step methods for fabricating paper-based devices without necessitating any expensive instrumentation by merely transferring the carbon by exfoliation abrasion on paper. Additionally, much has to be done to improve the quality of this transfer carbon to achieve a suitable sensing platform for electrochemical measurements. Hence, this review article aims to bring the new approaches developed in the last five years to circumvent some fabrication problems and enhance this “carbonization” step for electrochemistry detection using paper-based sensors. We will start the discussion on the carbon materials moving to the substrate and finally discuss the strategies to produce the conductive tracks and enhance their properties for sensing applications.