Progress and perspectives of carbon nanomaterials based electrochemical modifiers for the detection of environmental contaminants

To safeguard human health, environmental pollutants must be thoroughly screened to determine their acceptable limit. Several methods have been developed to identify environmental contaminants. Nevertheless, these methods have several disadvantages. Recently electrochemical sensors were widely used to analyze contaminants. Electrochemical sensors converts chemical and physical changes into detectable electrical signals. In the constantly evolving field of sensor technology, the sensitivity, durability, and selectivity of the electroanalytical sensors chiefly depends on the electrode modifier materials. Carbon-based materials have received a lot of interest in recent years in developing electrochemical sensors because of their outstanding combination of mechanical, chemical, and electrical properties. These features makes them ideal candidates for fabricating sensors. In this work, we comprehensively and systematically reviewed recent research trends and developments of carbon nanomaterials based electrochemical sensing strategies for detection of environmental pollutants such as phenolic compounds, drugs, pesticides, and heavy metal ions. Provided an overview of the emerging environmental contaminants. Summarized the detailed electrochemical detection mechanisms of and provided detailed analysis on the characteristic roles of the carbon-based nanocomposites in fabrication of the electrochemical sensing strategies for environmental contaminants detection. Progress made in the carbon nanomaterials based electrochemical modifiers have substantially improved the electrochemical performance of sensors for detecting the contaminants with notably low detection limits, wide linear ranges, high stability, excellent selectivity, and appreciable sensitivities. This represents the significant improvement over the conventional and traditional electrodes. Finally, highlighted the future perspectives and challenges of electrochemical sensors for contaminants detection, by providing substantial insights into the future development and application of the potential sensing strategies.