Tailoring Sol–Gel-Derived Silica Materials for Optical Biosensing

The last two decades have seen a revolution in the area of sol–gel-derived materials as media for the immobilization of biomolecules for biosensor fabrication. Such materials are suitable for the entrapment of a range of biomolecules, from enzymes to antibodies and even functional nucleic acids (FNA) such as aptamers and DNA enzymes. Recent progress in the development of “protein friendly” sol–gel processing methods has allowed these materials …