Detection of toxic metals using nanostructured biosensing platforms

Toxic metals accumulate in living things without any degradation or catabolism. Trace elements are necessary for the continuation of life’s activities. Toxic and trace element levels in all living things in the biological system interact and correlate with each other due to exposure to heavy metals caused by environmental pollution. On the other hand, it is known that trace elements and toxic metals compete with each other in the stages of absorption, distribution, and accumulation in mammals. In recent years, the importance of heavy metals in public health has increased as a result of technological development all over the world. Especially the deterioration of the food chain caused by environmental pollution and heavy metal contamination has increased the need to control the use of metals. Moreover, improving the quality of life is one of the most important goals of global research efforts. Naturally, quality of life is closely related to disease control, food quality and safety, and the quality of our environment. A continuous, fast, and precise monitoring system is needed to control critical parameters in all these areas. In this context, biosensors combine a biological recognition element with a suitable transducer. This article attempts to discuss the design, characterization, reliability tests, and usability of biosensors, which were prepared quickly and cost-effectively and developed for the analysis of toxic metals in water, soil, and agricultural products, as well as from biological samples. Further, the description of some important toxic metals and the types of nanomaterials used as a detection platform were also considered. The review mainly focuses on the application of nanostructured biosensing platforms for toxic metal detections, their advantages and disadvantages, and offers a roadmap for future development to improve their usefulness in pollution monitoring. In light of this, this chapter will provide an overview of different types of biosensors being used, ranging from different electrochemical tags and nanomaterials for various biomedical and environmental applications, with an outlook on biosensor technology. © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.