Minireview: Plausible Applications of Chemical Sensors for the Detection of Toxic Metal Ions

The harmful impact posed by toxic metals such as mercury, lead and arsenic on living organisms is well known. Although, the efforts have been made by environmental agencies to decrease the levels of these toxic metals, still there is high demand for potential materials that can bring down the levels of toxic metals in the environment. This eventually needs designing of new and efficient probes that can recognize the toxic ions from environmental samples. In this minireview, we summarize the effects caused by mercury, lead and arsenic in the environment and different types of sensors, particularly, chemical and nano-based sensors, including carbon and quantum dots used for the detection of aforementioned toxic metal ions. Further, we have predominantly focused on the reports that describes colorimetric and/or fluorescent detection methods of determination of the levels of toxic metal ions.