Review—Research Progress in Detection Technology of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is one of the most toxic environmental pollutants, which are very harmful to human body. It is crucial to find convenient and effective detection methods of PAHs. A variety of detection methods have been reported so far. This review summarized the PAHs detection methods. Traditional detection methods and electrochemical method are mainly introduced. Among them, based on the principle of fluorescence radiation, traditional methods of high detection precise rely on expensive equipment thus are not suitable for rapid detection. The electrochemical detection methods exhibit the features of high sensitivity, rapidity and convenience, and breaks the limitations of traditional methods, providing a broad application prospect for PAHs detection. In this review, the sample pretreatment and electrode pretreatment are discussed. Popular electrode modifying materials that include carbon nanoparticles, molecularly imprinted polymers, metal organic framework and other materials are evaluated. At last, the existing problem and potentially developing prospect of electrode modifiers is presented to promote the study of PAHs detection.