Application of smartphone-based spectroscopy to biosample analysis: A review

The emergence of the smartphones has brought extensive changes to our lifestyles, from communicating with one another, to shopping and enjoyment of entertainment, and from studying to functioning at the workplace (and in the field). At the same time, this portable device has also provided new possibilities in scientific research and applications. Based on the growing awareness of good health management, researchers have coupled health monitoring to smartphone sensing technologies. Along the way, there have been developed a variety of smartphone-based optical detection platforms for analyzing biological samples, including standalone smartphone units and integrated smartphone sensing systems. In this review, we outline the applications of smartphonebased optical sensors for biosamples. These applications focus mainly on three aspects: Microscopic imaging sensing, colorimetric sensing and luminescence sensing. We also discuss briefly some limitations of the current state of smartphone-based spectroscopy and present prospects of the future applicability of smartphone sensors.

Automated summary

The emergence of smartphones has brought extensive changes to our lifestyles, including communication, shopping, entertainment, studying, and work. In addition, smartphones have provided new possibilities in scientific research and applications, particularly in health monitoring and optical detection of biological samples. Smartphone-based optical sensors focus on three main areas: microscopic imaging sensing, colorimetric sensing, and luminescence sensing. The limitations of current smartphone-based spectroscopy are briefly discussed, along with the potential future applications of smartphone sensors.