Electrochemical Sensors Development for Bacterial Detection and Surveillance: Recent Advances and Future Directions

In today’s environment, rapid, reliable, and accurate bacterial detection is essential for protecting public health while preserving and ensuring the safety of food, water, and agricultural and environmental systems. Over the years, electrochemical sensors have gained widespread attention as viable candidates due to their rapid response, high sensitivity and selectivity, adaptability and portability, and low manufacturing cost. This facilitates their integration into various sectors, including healthcare and diagnostic applications, food safety and agriculture, and water and environmental monitoring. While these achievements represent tremendous progress, some of the challenges that need to be overcome include stability, batch-to-batch reproducibility, manufacturability, performance reliability, and the lack of point-of-care (POC) implementation for the utilization of these sensors for real-sample bacterial analysis. However, in the future, it is expected that with continued efforts made towards improving durability, standardization, and manufacturability, electrochemical bacterial sensors will be pivotal to the advancement of efficient bacterial diagnostics across various fields. This review presents major developments in modern electrochemical sensing technologies, which include, but are not limited to: electrochemical sensor and biosensor surface modifications, nanomaterials, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and the emergence of wearable systems, for bacterial detection and monitoring. Additionally, their utilization in the aforementioned sectors is discussed. The integration and sustained use of these advanced electrochemical sensors for bacterial detection and surveillance can significantly enhance global safety and public well-being.