Applications of autonomous microfluidic systems in environmental monitoring

Concern about the environment is increasing and so is the search for analytical methods that make continuous monitoring possible. Microfluidic devices such as lab-on-a-chip emerge as an alternative to the laboratory-based conventional techniques, making possible the development of unmanned monitoring tools. This review covers the last five years on the application of autonomous microfluidic devices for continuous environmental monitoring and addresses the existing demands in this field.