In the last few decades, the development of novel methods for pollutants detection with high accuracy, precision, reproducibility and low detection limits has been a challenge for the scientific community environmental safety. The attractive physicochemical properties of nanostructured materials (metal nanoparticles, QDs, MNPs, carbon nanotubes or graphene among others) such as strong absorption ability, excellent electron transfer or large surface-to-volume area make them particularly attractive for their use as either transducing platforms or labels in electrochemical sensors and biosensors. AuNPs are the nanoparticles of choice in most of the developed detection systems due to their small size, sensitivity, robust manufacturing Nanomaterials-Based Platforms for Environmental Monitoring 231 methods and easy functionalization. In addition, carbon nanostructured materials (i.e. carbon nanotubes, graphene) are the most common materials used as electrochemical transducing platforms for pollutants detection due to the dramatic increase on the sensitivity that these materials present owing to their large specific surface area and high surface free energy. […]
Although pollutants monitoring system based on many of the aforementioned nanomaterials look promising, their ‘real-world’ applications still needs further studies/developments. Effort must be focused on the final aim, which is the in-field application of the developed devices that should be stable enough, reproducible, sensitive and selective so as to achieve a real cost-efficient tool for pollutants detection/control. In this context, the development of paper-based sensors (e.g., lateral flow devices, micro PADs, etc.) that incorporate nanoparticles as labels or other nanomaterials may be future excellent alternatives.