Recent Advances on Electrochemical Sensors for Detection and Analysis of Heavy Metals

Since the beginning of modern civilization, heavy metals have been used in various industrial, domestic, technological, medical applications, etc. Often, if not all the time, the uncontrolled release of sewage to the water resources and emission from the industrial plants in the environment raises alarms over their potential impacts on human health and the environment. These metallic elements, being potentially toxic, are known to cause multiple organ impairment, even at extremely low exposure limits. Thus, it is highly imperative to develop simple and sensitive methods for their detection. Electrochemical techniques are one of the most promising methods for heavy metal sensing because of their short analytical time, easy accessibility, and high sensitivity for in-situ measurements. In this chapter, we discuss heavy metals and their potential adverse effects on human health and the environment, strategies for the design of materials for sensing the heavy metals/ions and their mechanisms, and the recent developments of electrochemical sensors in heavy metal detection. The chapter puts more emphasis on materials than methods.