Current status of research on chemical warfare agent detection technology

Chemical warfare agents (CWAs) are a class of highly toxic chemicals. They are often classified into different categories because of distinctions in their toxic effects. Although the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 banned the use of chemical weapons, the ease of manufacture and lethality of CWAs make them still a threat. Therefore, the development of rapid, accurate and sensitive detection techniques for CWAs is essential. This paper reviews the types of CWAs and their mechanisms of toxicity, introduces the use of CWAs mimics, and discusses in detail the mainstream CWAs detection techniques in recent years, including detection by Chemical Analysis Instrument, Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS), Electrochemistry, Fluorescence, Colorimetry, and Chemiresistor. Each of these technologies has its own advantages and disadvantages in terms of sensitivity, selectivity, portability and detection speed, etc. Meanwhile, this paper lists as well as analyzes the condition of CWAs detection equipment that have been put into commercial application in recent years. Finally, this paper provides an outlook on the future development of the application of CWAs detection technology in public safety.