Recent developments and applications of screen-printed electrodes in environmental assays—A review

Screen-printed electrodes (SPEs), which are used as economical electrochemical substrates, have gone through significant improvements over the past few decades with respect to both their format and their printing materials. Because of their advantageous material properties, such as disposability, simplicity, and rapid responses, SPEs have been successfully utilised for the rapid in situ analysis of environmental pollutants. This critical review describes the basic fabrication principles, the configuration designs of SPEs and the hybrid analytical techniques based on SPEs. We mainly overview the electrochemical applications of SPEs in environmental analysis over the past 3 years, including the determination of organic compounds, heavy metals and gas pollutants.

Graphical abstractThe configuration designs and printing materials of screen-printed electrodes (SPEs) are developed over the past decades and the applications of SPEs in environmental analysis are reviewed in this article.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slideHighlights► Screen-printed electrodes (SPEs) are economical substrates that attract interests. ► SPEs have been utilised for the rapid in situ analysis of environmental pollutants. ► The configuration designs and printing materials of SPEs are developed a lot. ► Some pretreatment techniques of surfaces are especially addressed.