I am writing this piece to urge you to properly understand the sensing principle you are developing as well as the application you have in mind. Please know your sensor and your sample. In my role as Executive Editor of ACS Sensors, I see many submitted works where neither the sensing mechanism nor the analytical problem is properly understood or studied. Please spend time on the problem you aim to solve. This is a real opportunity, not an unnecessary burden, and should be seen as enriching. Chemistry is the science of change. Chemical and biochemical transformations occur in most samples of practical relevance and tracking them with sensors is an amazing opportunity to further our understanding of complex systems. Aquatic environments, for example, exhibit chemical gradients and temporal fluctuations driven by temperature, salinity, sunlight, bioactivity, exchange with the atmosphere, mixing, and interactions with colloidal and polymeric matter in addition to small molecules. Metal species may change their redox state, their chemical speciation through complexation, precipitation, adsorption, and bio-uptake. Organic pollutants are chemically transformed, taken up, adsorbed, and decomposed. In living systems, drugs are metabolized, ions fluctuate in space and time, chemical and biological species form gradients and compartmentalize, cells may rupture and change the sample environment, and the sensor itself can be attacked and fouled. Yes, these processes are challenging to understand but form an integral part of serious sensor research. But sensors and integrated assays should also be characterized and mechanistically understood in view of the analytical problem. Why is that? Some probes may be based on equilibrium interactions and tend to respond exclusively to a particular equilibrium species that interacts with the sensing species or surface. Other principles, as often encountered with dynamic electrochemistry, are mass-transport limited. Here, the reacting species can normally not be chemically isolated from other chemical forms that rapidly interconvert on the time scale of the experiment. This changes the chemical information the sensor will report on. A third class, as with many spectroscopic and separation principles, but also affinity assays and reaction-based molecular indicators, is based on a complete chemical or biological isolation or transformation. Here, information on chemical speciation tends to be all but lost unless special precautions are taken. So, do you know what information your sensor gives you? Is this information adequate for the system you aim to study? What reference method and what conditions should one choose to best correlate two different techniques? Please spend time on these important questions and do not just spike a target sample with the analyte of interest to call it a day. Yes, one should aim for adequate selectivity and sensitivity. But knowing what you measure and taking the complexities of your sample seriously will help your research to have real impact. And this should be our goal, not just to produce an academic paper. This article has not yet been cited by other publications.

中文翻译：

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了解您的电极和样品


我写这篇文章是为了敦促您正确理解您正在开发的传感原理以及您心目中的应用程序。请了解您的传感器和样品。在我担任 ACS Sensors 的执行编辑期间，我看到许多提交的著作既没有正确理解或研究传感机制也没有正确研究分析问题。请花时间解决你想要解决的问题。这是一个真正的机会，而不是不必要的负担，应该被视为充实。化学是一门关于变化的科学。化学和生化转变发生在大多数具有实际意义的样品中，使用传感器跟踪它们是我们进一步了解复杂系统的绝佳机会。例如，水生环境表现出由温度、盐度、阳光、生物活性、与大气交换、混合以及与胶体和聚合物物质以及小分子的相互作用驱动的化学梯度和时间波动。金属种类可以通过络合、沉淀、吸附和生物吸收来改变其氧化还原状态、化学形态。有机污染物经过化学转化、吸收、吸附和分解。在生命系统中，药物被代谢，离子在空间和时间上波动，化学和生物物种形成梯度并区室化，细胞可能破裂并改变样品环境，传感器本身可能受到攻击和污染。是的，这些过程很难理解，但却是严肃的传感器研究不可或缺的一部分。但是，鉴于分析问题，也应该对传感器和集成分析进行表征和机械理解。为什么？ 一些探针可能基于平衡相互作用，并且往往只对与传感物质或表面相互作用的特定平衡物质做出响应。动态电化学中经常遇到的其他原理是质量传递受限的。在这里，反应物质通常不能从其他化学形式中分离出来，这些化学形式在实验的时间尺度上迅速相互转化。这会改变传感器将报告的化学信息。第三类，与许多光谱和分离原理一样，还有亲和测定和基于反应的分子指示剂，基于完全的化学或生物分离或转化。在这里，除非采取特殊的预防措施，否则有关化学形态的信息往往几乎丢失。那么，您知道传感器为您提供什么信息吗？这些信息对于您打算学习的系统来说是否足够？应该选择什么参考方法和什么条件来最好地关联两种不同的技术？请花时间解决这些重要问题，而不仅仅是在目标样品中加入感兴趣的分析物来收工。是的，应该以足够的选择性和灵敏度为目标。但是，了解您测量的内容并认真对待样品的复杂性将有助于您的研究产生真正的影响。这应该是我们的目标，而不仅仅是写一篇学术论文。本文尚未被其他出版物引用。