Nanoparticles: Synthesis, characteristics, and applications in analytical and other sciences

Nanoparticles (NPs) are widely employed in different research areas, ranging from analytical chemistry and environmental science to medicine, the agriculture and pharmaceutical industry. This is mainly due to the unique characteristics of NPs and the novelty they introduce in such applications. In analytical chemistry, the role of NPs can differ depending on the nature of the steps involved in analytical process. NPs are probably most useful for detection, but sample preparation has also profited from them. For instance, NPs can advantageously replace conventional sorbents for solid-phase extraction. Moreover, NPs are being increasingly used as stationary phases in gas and liquid chromatography or electrochromatography. In this review, a brief summary on the classification, synthesis methods, and properties of NPs is given. Moreover, the examples of applications in different research area are shortly presented. However, the merits of this work are to present the use of NPs in analytical chemistry field.