Electroanalytical overview: The determination of manganese

Abstract

Manganese is an essential nutrient of the human body but also toxic at elevated levels with symptoms of neurotoxicity reported, therefore its analytical determination is required. Manganese (II) is ingested primarily through food and drinking water so its routine monitoring in such samples is essential. While laboratory based analytical instrumentation can be routinely used to measure manganese (II), there is a need to develop methods for manganese (II) determination that can be performed in-the-field utilizing simple and inexpensive instrumentation yet providing comparable sensitive analytical measurements. Electrochemistry can provide a solution with instrumentation readily portable and hand-held coupled with electrochemical sensing platforms that are sensitive and provide on-site rapid analytical measurements. Consequently, in this overview we explore the electroanalytical determination of manganese (II) reported throughout the literature and offer insights into future research opportunities within this important field.