Examples in the detection of heavy metal ions based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering spectroscopy

Heavy metals have been widely applied in industry, agriculture, and other fields because of their outstanding physics and chemistry properties. However, heavy metal pollution is inevitable in the process of mass production and emission. Heavy metal ions will cause irreversible harm to the human body and other organisms due to their nondegradable nature even at low concentrations of exposure and ingestion. Therefore, it is of great significance for human health and ecological environment to develop high accuracy and sensitivity as well as stable techniques for detecting heavy metal ions. In recent years, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy has been regarded as a promising new technique for the determination of trace heavy metal ions on account of its special fingerprint identification capability, high sensitivity, rapid detection ability, and simple operation. This review summarized in detail the basic principles and strategies for detecting mercury ions, copper ions, arsenic ions, zinc ions, cadmium ions, lead ions, and chromium (VI) ions as well as the current challenges and future trends for the determination of heavy metal ions based on SERS technology.