Sensing performances of spinel ferrites MFe2O4 (M = Mg, Ni, Co, Mn, Cu and Zn) based electrochemical sensors: A review

The history of ferrites comes from many centuries and was fundamental in many fields. Initially, ferrites were extracted directly from nature, but in the last century, scientists learned to produce ferrites with different properties that gave origin to many advances in industrial and instrumental applications. More recently, the designed preparation of ferrites with nanometric size revealed remarkable characteristics. In the last years, different spinel ferrites were used as electroactive layers to build high-performance modified electrodes. In this review, it is presented a critical overview of the utilization of spinel ferrites (with a general formula MFe2O4, where M2+ = Mg2+, Ni2+, Co2+, Cu2+, Mn2+ and Zn2+) to create differentiated voltammetric sensors. The association of these materials with graphene, glassy carbon, carbon nitride, ionic liquids, nanoparticles of noble metals, oxides of transition metals and other materials can produce notable synergic responses towards electrochemical activity. Some of these sensors can produce very sensitive signals and ample concentration ranges for compounds such hydrogen peroxide, glucose and bisphenol A, and present potential for many other applications. Along this review, all these aspects will be discussed and the main results are organized in tables, using as a base the metal associated with the ferrite.