Ndunda Elizabeth Nthambi, Mwanza Moses Mutiso
Department of Physical Sciences, School of Pure and Applied Sciences, Machakos University, Machakos, Machakos County, Kenya.
Open Res Afr. 2023 Apr 14;6:5. doi: 10.12688/openresafrica.13983.1. eCollection 2023.
Pollution of our environment as a result of industrialization and other human activities is a growing concern due to the harmful effects of most chemicals that are released into the environment. Of particular interest are the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that are reported to be toxic and build up in the environment due to their persistence. Among the POPs are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which were widely used in the past in various applications ranging from additives in pesticides to dielectric fluids in electrical equipment. As a way of protecting the one health trilogy (environment, human and animal health), their determination in the environment is a paramount call that has seen researchers continue to provide advanced technologies towards achieving this goal. These technologies involve the conventional gold standard gas chromatography systems coupled to sensitive detectors that can detect trace level concentrations. They have come in handy in monitoring of PCBs but their application for routing monitoring may not be sustainable because of the cost of operation associated with them and the need for experts to run the equipment. As a result, there is need for affordable systems that are still able to achieve the required sensitivity for routine monitoring and real-time data acquisition. Sensor systems fit very well in this category since they can be miniaturized for affordability and portray many other desirable features. PCBs as environmentally relevant environmental pollutants have received minimal attention with regards to sensor development and this review highlights the efforts that have been made so far. It provides in-depth discussions on electrochemical sensors and the various modifications that have been employed to date to achieve detection of PCBs at low concentrations as well as the future prospects in remote and routine monitoring.
工业化及其他人类活动导致的环境污染日益令人担忧，因为释放到环境中的大多数化学物质都具有有害影响。特别令人关注的是持久性有机污染物（POPs），据报道它们具有毒性，且由于其持久性而在环境中累积。多氯联苯（PCBs）属于持久性有机污染物，过去广泛应用于各种领域，从农药添加剂到电气设备中的介电液。为了保护“同一健康”三部曲（环境、人类和动物健康），对环境中多氯联苯的测定是一项至关重要的任务，研究人员一直在不断提供先进技术以实现这一目标。这些技术包括传统的金标准气相色谱系统与能够检测痕量浓度的灵敏检测器联用。它们在多氯联苯监测中发挥了作用，但由于运行成本高以及需要专家操作设备，其用于常规监测可能不可持续。因此，需要价格合理且仍能实现常规监测所需灵敏度和实时数据采集的系统。传感器系统非常适合这一类别，因为它们可以小型化以降低成本，并具有许多其他理想特性。作为与环境相关的环境污染物，多氯联苯在传感器开发方面受到的关注极少，本综述重点介绍了迄今为止所做的努力。它深入讨论了电化学传感器以及迄今为止为实现低浓度多氯联苯检测所采用的各种修饰方法，以及远程和常规监测的未来前景。
