Recent Advancements in Electrochemical Biosensors for Monitoring the Water Quality

Abstract

The release of chemicals and microorganisms from various sources, such as industry, agriculture, animal farming, wastewater treatment plants, and flooding, into water systems have caused water pollution in several parts of our world, endangering aquatic ecosystems and individual health. World Health Organization (WHO) has introduced strict standards for the maximum concentration limits for nutrients and chemicals in drinking water, surface water, and groundwater. It is crucial to have rapid, sensitive, and reliable analytical detection systems to monitor the pollution level regularly and meet the standard limit. Electrochemical biosensors are advantageous analytical devices or tools that convert a bio-signal by biorecognition elements into a significant electrical response. Thanks to the micro/nano fabrication techniques, electrochemical biosensors for sensitive, continuous, and real-time detection have attracted increasing attention among researchers and users worldwide. These devices take advantage of easy operation, portability, and rapid response. They can also be miniaturized, have a long-life span and a quick response time, and possess high sensitivity and selectivity and can be considered as portable biosensing assays. They are of special importance due to their great advantages such as affordability, simplicity, portability, and ability to detect at on-site. This review paper is concerned with the basic concepts of electrochemical biosensors and their applications in various water quality monitoring, such as inorganic chemicals, nutrients, microorganisms’ pollution, and organic pollutants, especially for developing real-time/online detection systems. The basic concepts of electrochemical biosensors, different surface modification techniques, bio-recognition elements (BRE), detection methods, and specific real-time water quality monitoring applications are reviewed thoroughly in this article.

Gold Nanoparticle-Based Plasmonic Biosensors

“…The demand for deployable tests beyond clinical diagnostics is emerging, as evidenced by research in areas such as water quality, aquaculture, and environmental monitoring [ 79 , 80 , 81 ], food and beverage quality and authentication [ 82 , 83 , 84 ], detection of food allergens [ 85 ], and detection of pyrogens such as endotoxin in biotechnology products [ 86 ]. In conclusion, as a paradigm of the inventive use of plasmonic biosensors, a recent niche application is worth mentioning: the rapid determination of whisky age by SPR [ 87 ].…”

Electrochemical biosensors: rapid detection methods in wastewater-based epidemiology research

“…However, it is plagued by issues such as inevitable surface treatment and low immobilization efficiency. 86,87 The electrochemical biosensors with enzymes as biorecognition elements have undergone a series of evolutions and improvements, achieving more miniaturized and real-time monitoring by introducing artificial intelligence. For example, the glucose meters based on GOx have evolved from the first generation of sensors to wearable sensors with a linear range of 0-500 μM and a sensitivity of 11.7 μA mM −1 cm −2 .…”

Integrating Bio-Electrochemical Sensors and Machine Learning to Predict the Efficacy of Biological Nutrient Removal Processes at Water Resource Recovery Facilities

“…Bio-electrochemical sensors (BESs) provide real-time information about C concentration and the metabolism of readily biodegradable organic compounds in a broad range of wastewater treatment environments. 6,7 These devices leverage electroactive anode respiring biofilms to generate an amperometric signal that acts as a proxy for available biodegradable C. More than two decades of research has been dedicated to understanding the effectiveness of BESs for the recovery and detection of heavy metals, 8,9 environmental toxicity detection, 10 wastewater resource recovery, 11 and measurement of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) 12 and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) under controlled laboratory conditions through linear correlation of bio-electric current and concentration. 13 pH and temperature variations, 14 wastewater composition, 15 and reaction time, 16 can have a major impact on the measurement performance of these biosensors.…”