Electrochemical sensors for detecting bioactive constituents and contaminants in traditional Chinese medicines: research progress and critical perspectives

. Across the literature, molecularly imprinted polymers, nanocomposite interfaces, paper-based devices, and dual-mode transduction strategies have all shown analytical promise. However, matrix validation, comparator-method benchmarking, pretreatment transparency, and reproducibility reporting remain far less consistent than detection-limit reporting. The field is therefore most likely to advance not through ever-lower LODs alone, but through more standardized, application-oriented electrochemical methods for authentic TCM matrices.