Sensing Mercury for Biomedical and Environmental Monitoring

Sensors

Paul D. Selid³  Hanying Xu²  E. Michael Collins¹  Marla Striped Face-Collins¹ 

[1] Tribal Environmental Science Department, United Tribes Technical College, Bismarck, ND 58504, USA;Environmental Analytical Research Laboratory, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58202, USA;Department of Chemistry, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58202, USA

关键词: determination of mercury;    sensors;    nanomaterials;    mercury pollution;    fluorescence;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s90705446

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Mercury is a very toxic element that is widely spread in the atmosphere, lithosphere, and surface water. Concentrated mercury poses serious problems to human health, as bioaccumulation of mercury within the brain and kidneys ultimately leads to neurological diseases. To control mercury pollution and reduce mercury damage to human health, sensitive determination of mercury is important. This article summarizes some current sensors for the determination of both abiotic and biotic mercury. A wide array of sensors for monitoring mercury is described, including biosensors and chemical sensors, while piezoelectric and microcantilever sensors are also described. Additionally, newly developed nanomaterials offer great potential for fabricating novel mercury sensors. Some of the functional fluorescent nanosensors for the determination of mercury are covered. Afterwards, the in vivo determination of mercury and the characterization of different forms of mercury are discussed. Finally, the future direction for mercury detection is outlined, suggesting that nanomaterials may provide revolutionary tools in biomedical and environmental monitoring of mercury.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2009 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland