Arsenic is considered one of the most toxic element in the natural environment. With the development of nanotechnology, nanomaterials are increasingly being used to modify and improve the analytical performance of various electrodes, and the latest achievements in regards to arsenic detection have been fruitful.

Therefore, a concise and updated review is considered timely to evaluate the progress, follow up on the development trendings, and identify the key issues on the electrochemical determination of arsenic.

Aiming at this, a recent study conducted by Prof. HUANG Xingjiu’s team in Institute of Intelligent Machines (IIM), Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, focused on the current situation and the most important developments in the electrochemical determination of arsenic within the last 2 years. Their paper has been published in Current Opinion in Electrochemistry.

Their review summarized electrode materials, electrolyte pH, and recent technical advances on the determination of arsenic within the last 2 years.

They found that the previous studies have mostly focused on the detection of arsenic at modified electrodes consisting mostly of gold and alloy nanostructures, metal oxide nanostructures, graphene, and organic group functionalized nanomaterials.

By analyzing the current situation and development trend of electrochemical detection of inorganic As (Figure 1), they found that the use of completely free from noble metals nanomaterials to detect inorganic As is a popular and challenge task.

Moreover, it is extremely meaningful to realize sensitive and reliable detection of inorganic As in nearly neutral or weak alkaline media.

Furthermore, other techniques integrating with electrochemical methods provide more opportunities for sensitive and selective analysis of inorganic As.

Importantly, key issues and remaining challenges that require further attention for a successful electrochemical detection of arsenic are proposed.

Any advances in understanding or in sensor performance contribute to the development of robust, easy-to-use, reliable and sensitive sensor that can ideally be used on-site (at the point of sampling) or in-situ (directly in the water column) for automated monitoring of arsenic by non-specialist end-users; looking at the worldwide problem of arsenic, such sensor would be very much welcome indeed.

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61474122, 31571567, 61106012, 21377131, 21475133, and U1532123). X.-J. Huang acknowledges the CAS Interdisciplinary Innovation Team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, for financial support.

Link to the paper: Recent developments in electrochemical determination of arsenic

Figure 1. Current situation and development trend of arsenic detection by using
electrochemical methods.(Imaged by YANG Meng)

Contact:

HUANG Xingjiu

Institute of Intelligent Machines (http://english.iim.cas.cn/)

Tel: 86-551-65591167

Email: xingjiuhuang@iim.ac.cn