Warfare threats and acts of terror are challenging situations encountered by defense agencies across the globe and are of growing concern to the general public, and security-minded policy makers. Detecting ultra-low quantities of explosive compounds in remote locations or under harsh conditions for anti-terror purposes as well as the environmental monitoring of residual or discarded explosives in soil, remains a major challenge. The use of metal nanoparticles (NPs) for trace explosive detection has drawn considerable interest in recent years. For nano-based explosive sensor devices to meet real-life operational demands, analytical parameters such as, long-shelf life, stability under harsh conditions, ease-of-use, high sensitivity, excellent selectivity, and rapid signal response must be met. Generally, the analytical performance of colorimetric-based nanosensor systems is strongly dependent on the surface properties of the nanomaterial used in the colorimetric assay. The size and shape properties of metal NPs, surface functionalisation efficiency, and assay fabrication methods, are factors that influence the efficacy of colorimetric explosive nanosensor systems. This review reports on the design and analytical performances of colorimetric explosive sensor systems using metal NPs as optical signal transducers. The challenges of trace explosive detection, advances in metal NP colorimetric explosive design, limitations of each methods, and possible strategies to mitigate the problems are discussed.
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September 2021
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This issue of Emerging Topics in Life Sciences: Advances in Forensic Science explores emerging analytical tools and how they might be implemented by forensic scientists and communicated within the justice system.
Review Article|
May 07 2021
Colorimetric optical nanosensors for trace explosive detection using metal nanoparticles: advances, pitfalls, and future perspective
Oluwasesan Adegoke
;
School of Science and Engineering, Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4GH, U.K.
Correspondence: Oluwasesan Adegoke (o.adegoke@dundee.ac.uk)
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Niamh Nic Daeid
Niamh Nic Daeid
School of Science and Engineering, Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4GH, U.K.
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
January 31 2021
Revision Received:
April 07 2021
Accepted:
April 19 2021
Online ISSN: 2397-8562
Print ISSN: 2397-8554
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society and the Royal Society of Biology
2021
Emerg Top Life Sci (2021) 5 (3): 367–379.
Article history
Received:
January 31 2021
Revision Received:
April 07 2021
Accepted:
April 19 2021
Citation
Niamh Nic Daeid, Lucina Hackman, Oluwasesan Adegoke, Niamh Nic Daeid; Colorimetric optical nanosensors for trace explosive detection using metal nanoparticles: advances, pitfalls, and future perspective. Emerg Top Life Sci 24 September 2021; 5 (3): 367–379. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/ETLS20200281
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