Nano-sensors for Monitoring Heavy Metal Contamination in Soils and Plants

Heavy metal ions (HMIs) are highly poisonous, carcinogenic, and non-biodegradable, causing adverse effects on humans and the environment. HMIs easily accumulate in living systems through a variety of modes. Inside, the system HMIs change into more dangerous forms and directly interfere with the body's metabolic processes, which can lead to serious illnesses and even death in some cases. As a result, real-time monitoring of HMIs in food, water, and agricultural samples is promptly required. To date, numerous approaches have been developed for the quantification of HMIs from environmental samples. Among all, nano-sensors-based strategies have great potential for on-site detection of HMIs. These sensors are easy to fabricate, fast, and highly selective and sensitive. Although, HMIs detection methods have been extensively discussed in the literature, only a few studies are available on the detection of HMIs in soil and environmental samples. This chapter provides an in-depth summary of the remarkable advances in nano-sensors for on-site detection of HMIs and also explores new possibilities for the fabrication of portable point-of-care nano-sensors.