Sensors as green tools in analytical chemistry

Abstract This article comments on green aspects of (bio)chemical sensors for qualitative and quantitative analysis applications. First, the aspects that connect chemical sensors and biosensors with the main trends of green analytical chemistry are discussed. To continue, a set of paradigmatic examples of sustainable assays pertaining to the (bio)sensing field have been selected and explored in some of their variants. These are the use of a smartphone camera together with a microfluidic paper platform to perform colorimetric or fluorometric assays, the use of the portable glucose meter as transducer for a variety of (bio)assays different of glucose, or the coupling of sensor arrays with advanced chemometric processing for smart sensing (electronic noses and electronic tongues).