Significance of nanomaterials in electrochemical sensors for nitrate detection: A review

Nanomaterial-enabled electrochemical sensors are designed as an economical, efficient, and user-friendly analytical tool for on-site and routine nitrate analysis over a wide range of environmental samples. The remarkable advances and tunable attributes of nanomaterials have greatly improved the analytical performance of electrochemical nitrate sensors. In this review, a comprehensive elucidation of the recent advances in nanomaterial-based electrochemical nitrate sensors is presented. The review firstly provides a general introduction, followed by typical electrochemical sensing methods. The next two sections detail various nanomaterials, including graphene derivatives, carbon nanotubes/fibers, metal/bimetal/metal oxide nanoparticles, and conducting polymers for modifying electrodes in enzymatic and non-enzymatic electrochemical nitrate sensors. Finally, the perspectives and current challenges in achieving real-world applications of nanomaterial-based electrochemical nitrate sensors are outlined.