Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) combined with nanomaterials as electrochemical sensing applications for environmental pollutants

Abstract

It is known that environmental pollution, which is the result of human-induced industrial, domestic, and agricultural practices, poses a threat to our planet. The increasing human population caused several problems such as water and air pollution, which have reached levels threatening human health. There are many different hazardous chemical and biological environmental pollutants in soil, air, and wastewater. It is extremely important to evaluate these health risks and detect these pollutants. The use of electrochemical methods for the detection of environmental pollutants comes to the forefront recently with advantages such as sensitivity, fast response, low cost, and practical use by miniaturization. The molecular imprinting technique is a popular method used for substance analysis by creating a cavity specific to the substance to be analyzed with the polymer used. The use of molecularly imprinted polymer in electrochemical methods and its modification with various nanomaterials bring advantages such as high selectivity, robustness, and sensitivity to electrochemical sensors. Here, the sensitive determination of environmental pollutants with different nanomaterial-modified molecularly imprinted polymer-based electrochemical sensors, the use of different polymerization techniques, and nano-sized modification agents in sensors are evaluated by reviewing recent studies in the literature.