ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews some advanced techniques such as electrochemical, field effect transistors, fiber optics, fluorescence, and colorimetry for the effective detection of ions. Heavy metal ions are toxic in nature, harmful, and non-biodegradable, and therefore, create serious impacts on the environment, human health, and aquatic life. Several conventional techniques like inductively coupled plasmaoptical emission spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma-coupled to mass spectrometry or atomic absorption spectrometry have been reported for ion sensing. They have shown good sensitivity, selectivity, and reliability. However, these techniques are time consuming, necessitate sample preparation, need a trained operator, and complex instruments, and are expensive. Thus, there is a need for other methods which could overcome these drawbacks.
