Conducting polymers in environmental analysis

As a family of materials, conducting polymers (CPs) elicit the possibility of both exploiting the chemical and physical attributes of the polymer for chemical analysis and incorporating its electronic and electrochemical properties to enhance the analytical figures of merit. This review article provides a snapshot of current investigations in many research laboratories on the use of CPs for sensors, separations and extraction techniques.This review focuses primarily on polyaniline, polypyrrole, and polythiophene and their substituted composites. It includes applications in gas, ion and organic molecule sensors, and solid-phase extraction and microextraction. We also discuss the broad challenges and the accomplishments in preparing analytical devices from CPs.

► This review deals with conducting polymers in analytical applications.
► Focus on sensors, separations and extraction techniques.
► The most important techniques for fabricating conducting polymers to aid analysis.
► Current use shows conducting polymers have great potential for future applications.