A Brief Discussion of the Mechanisms of Substance Recognition and Signal Transformation in Chemical Sensing

With the development of technology, the need for personalized medicine has increased day by day. There are also growing concerns about harmful substances in the environment. Therefore, it is crucial to monitor and detect the specific target in the environment and biological systems in real time and accurately. Chemical sensors have shown wide application prospects as highly sensitive and selective detection tools. This article systematically compares the similarities and differences of various recognition methods in terms of recognition mechanism, sensitivity, and selectivity, and deeply explores the diversity and applicability of signal transduction methods from optical to electrical signals. Overall, these methods have their advantages, and in specific applications, the optimal solution needs to be selected in combination with the characteristics of the target. Moreover, this paper also briefly discussed methods that transform the recognition signals into electrochemical and optical signals. Future research should apply more small-molecule-specific recognition methods to the recognition of larger molecules, finding more specific molecules and universal synthetic methods.