A review on metal nanoparticles as nano-sensors for environmental detection of emerging contaminants

Abstract

The rapid rate of scientific developments, quick industrialization, improper disposal, and sewage spillages has resulted in emerging contaminants (ECs) entering the environment. Due to the engineering design in their formulation, even environmental trace level may cause harm to untargeted organisms; there needs to be more understanding of their long-term effects on the environment. To bridge the knowledge gap, the environmental monitoring (EM) of ECs is of great importance and is being prioritized. Conventional analytical techniques (chromatography and spectroscopy) are being employed in their monitoring. However, they have been thoroughly investigated and exhausted, and are expensive, require skilled technicians, laborious experimental protocols and restricted instrument mobility detection. In recent years, advancements in nanotechnology showed the successful use of metallic nanoparticles for monitoring of ECs as a cheaper alternative, offering competitive detection parameters as conventional analytical techniques and in-situ analyses. Metal nanoparticles (MNPs) exhibit unique characteristics to their bulk counterparts, which have been studied extensively in all matrices (blood, urine, tissue, and water). Therefore, in this article, the fabrication and recent scientific developments of the use of metal nanoparticles as nano-sensors for the detection in EM are reviewed from the current literature.