A review of metal nanomaterials-based electrochemical biosensors for environmental wastewater monitoring and their remediation

Abstract

The biosphere provides all essential resources to all living creatures, which is vital for their survival, well-being, and their health. The reason to monitor the environment is to analyze the condition of the environment. Various methods are utilized in monitoring the environment, and conventional methods take an enormous amount of time, including costly instruments and trained professionals. Thus, in order to overcome these barriers with conventional techniques, biosensors were produced, which are being utilized in multiple sectors of monitoring the environment. This can augment the techniques that rely on the laboratory and can be employed for testing remotely. Biosensors, which are fabricated with nanomaterials, serve as a technology collection that has evolved in recent years in order to detect environmental pollutants with increased specificity and sensitivity. Thus, in this review, we have initially described the biosensors and their significance in monitoring the environment, which are constructed with nanomaterials. However, a similar review article was published in the year 2021, which described the role of biosensors in monitoring environmental pollutants and lacks to discuss the materials utilized for biosensors. In this study, among different nanomaterials, metal and metal oxide nanoparticles play a vital role in sensing environmental pollutants, which are discussed in detail. Investigation of biosensors application with nanomaterials for sensing two categories of environmental pollutants, such as pesticides and heavy metals, as they comprise the majority of the contaminants in the environment, and the remediation techniques with the utilization of nanomaterials to reduce the effects of these pollutants in the environment, are explained in detail.