Magnetic impedance biosensor: A review

Though the magnetoimpedance effect was discovered two decades ago, the biomedical applications of the magnetoimpedance sensor are still in their infancy. In this review, the authors summarized the magnetoimpedance effect in soft ferromagnetic wires, ribbons and thin films for biosensing applications. Recent progress and achievements of the magnetoimpedance-based biosensing applications including the detection of magnetic Ferrofluid, magnetic beads, magnetic nanoparticles, magnetically labeled bioanalytes and biomagnetic fields of living systems were reviewed. The modification effect of the biochemical liquids, agglomeration effect of the magnetic particles, and the effect of the stray magnetic field on magnetoimpedance were investigated in this review. Some constructive strategies were proposed for design of the high-performance magnetoimpedance biosensor, for quantitative and ultrasensitive detection of magnetically labeled biomolecules. The theoretical and experimental results suggest that the magnetoimpedance sensors are particularly suitable for highly sensitive detection of low-concentration biomolecules, and might be used for early diagnosis and screening of cancers.