Application of Nanotechnology in Analysis and Removal of Heavy Metals in Food and Water Resources

Abstract

Toxic heavy metal contamination in food and water from environmental pollution is a significant public health issue. Heavy metals do not biodegrade easily yet can be enriched hundreds of times by biological magnification, where toxic substances move up the food chain and eventually enter the human body. Nanotechnology as an emerging field has provided significant improvement in heavy metal analysis and removal from complex matrices. Various techniques have been adapted based on nanomaterials for heavy metal analysis, such as electrochemical, colorimetric, fluorescent, and biosensing technology. Multiple categories of nanomaterials have been utilized for heavy metal removal, such as metal oxide nanoparticles, magnetic nanoparticles, graphene and derivatives, and carbon nanotubes. Nanotechnology-based heavy metal analysis and removal from food and water resources has the advantages of wide linear range, low detection and quantification limits, high sensitivity, and good selectivity. There is a need for easy and safe field application of nanomaterial-based approaches.

Selenium-based nanomaterials for biosensing applications

“…98 Numerous approaches for heavy metal analysis have been adopted using nanomaterials, including electrochemical, colorimetric, fluorescence, and biosensing technology; and multiple types of NPs have been used in the removal of heavy metals, including metal oxide NPs, magnetic NPs, graphene, and its derivatives, and carbon nanotubes. 99,100 As a result, the use of NPs may prove advantageous in creating creative techniques to circumvent these constraints. 98 For instance, a novel DNAzyme biosensor for ultra-trace Pb 2+ detection was developed recently based on the ''hot spot'' effect in the near-infrared band using AuNPs.…”

Recent Progress in Nanotechnology-Based Approaches for Food Monitoring

“…For example, monodispersed gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with a diameter of less than 30 nm in an aqueous solution render red color [ 101 ]. The presence of heavy metals can accelerate the aggregation of AuNPs to stimulate a red shift in the localized surface plasmon resonance band, resulting in the color change of the aqueous solution [ 102 , 103 ]. Apart from AuNPs, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) are widely used in colorimetric detection because they also have plasmonic properties as AuNPs [ 104 , 105 ].…”

Immobilized Enzyme-based Novel Biosensing System for Recognition of Toxic Elements in the Aqueous Environment

“…Conventional analytical techniques for heavy metals detection in water, such as the quantum dot method with fluorescence spectrometry [20], inductively coupled plasmamass spectrometry (ICP-MS) [21], hydride generation atomic absorption spectroscopy (HGAAS) (Arsenic detection in drinking water) [22], graphite furnace AAS [23], X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence [24], have been used for the detection of heavy metals, including arsenic, in drinking water samples and other complex matrices, ICP-MS method is the most common method used. However, despite these techniques being able to detect a low concentration of metals in water samples, low detectable concentration in heavy metals is in a range of 0.3 to 5.81 µg/L [25].…”