Metal organic frameworks as promising sensing tools for electrochemical detection of persistent heavy metal ions from water matrices: A concise review

Water bodies are being polluted rapidly by disposal of toxic chemicals with their huge entrance into drinking water supply chain. Among these pollutants, heavy metal ions (HMIs) are the most challenging one due to their non-biodegradability, toxicity, and ability to biologically hoard in ecological systems, thus posing a foremost danger to human health. This can be addressed by robust, sensitive, selective, and reliable sensing of metal ions which can be achieved by Metal organic frameworks (MOF) based electrochemical sensors. In the present era, MOFs have caught greater interest in a variety of applications including sensing of hazardous pollutants such as heavy metal ions. So, in this review article, types, synthesis and working mechanism of MOF based sensors is explained to give general overview with updated literature. First time, detailed study is done for sensing of metal ions such as chromium, mercury, zinc, copper, manganese, palladium, lead, iron, cadmium and lanthanide by MOFs based electrochemical sensors. The use of MOFs as electrochemical sensors has attractive success story along with some challenges of the area. Considering these challenges, we attempted to highlight the milestone achieved and shortcomings along with future prospective of the MOFs for employing it in electrochemical sensing devices for HMIs. Finally, challenges and future prospects have been discussed to promote the devel-opment of MOFs-based sensors in future.

Automated summary

Water bodies are being rapidly polluted by toxic chemicals, especially heavy metal ions (HMIs), which are non-biodegradable, toxic, and can accumulate in ecological systems, posing a significant threat to human health. Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) based electrochemical sensors have shown great potential in sensing HMIs due to their robust, sensitive, selective, and reliable properties. In this review article, the types, synthesis, and working mechanism of MOF based sensors are explained, with a focus on their application in sensing various metal ions. The challenges and future prospects of MOFs in electrochemical sensing devices for HMIs are discussed to promote their development.