Potentiometric Biosensors for Early Bacterial Detection: A Mini–Review on Growth, Biofilm, and Enzyme Monitoring

The early detection of bacterial infections and contamination is critical in clinical and industrial settings. Potentiometric biosensors offer a promising, rapid, and cost‐effective solution, and selective measurement of various types of analytes by measuring the potential difference between two electrodes in a three electrode cell configuration, making them valuable tools in environmental, agricultural, medical, industrial, and pharmaceutical analyses, to name a few. In recent years, with the introduction of various receptor types, such as aptamers, antibodies, peptides, and molecularly imprinted polymers, potentiometric sensors have shown increased potential for detecting different bacterial species. In this mini‐review, we highlight the high success and significant performance of these potentiometric sensors developed for the determination of bacterial growth, biofilms, and bacterial enzymes, based on different mechanistic strategies. We further emphasize the considerable potential of these potentiometric sensors for early onsite detection of microbial infections or contamination, suggesting their likely applicability in clinical and industrial settings.