State-of-the-art of differential sensing techniques in analytical sciences

In the field of molecular recognition, classical sensing methods, motivated by the lock-and-key principle, require highly selective receptors for detecting specific analytes. However, due to the high selectivity and high specificity of the receptors required for detection of the target analytes, differential sensing has emerged as a promising alternative for addressing the deficiencies of the traditional chemosensing approaches. This review focuses on the state-of-the-art approaches for molecular sensing and discusses the current status of differential sensing routines in the context of recent advances for application in diverse fields. The essential criteria for excellent differential sensing array systems are systematically reviewed, and the conceptual differences between differential sensing and traditional chemosensing methods in the identification and detection of target analytes are highlighted. The use of multivariate statistical techniques in data mining, analysis, interpretation for differential sensing, and the advantages, disadvantages, and limitations of each chemometric technique are discussed.