Citation: Hong, J.; Su, M.; Zhao, K.;
Zhou, Y.; Wang, J.; Zhou, S.-F.; Lin, X.
A Minireview for Recent
Development of Nanomaterial-Based
Detection of Antibiotics. Biosensors
2023, 13, 327. https://doi.org/
10.3390/bios13030327
Received: 5 December 2022
Revised: 17 February 2023
Accepted: 23 February 2023
Published: 27 February 2023
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
Review
A Minireview for Recent Development of Nanomaterial-Based
Detection of Antibiotics
Jiafu Hong
1,2,†
, Mengxing Su
2,†
, Kunmeng Zhao
1
, Yihui Zhou
1
, Jingjing Wang
2
, Shu-Feng Zhou
1
and Xuexia Lin
1,
*
1
Department of Chemical Engineering & Pharmaceutical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering,
Huaqiao University, Xiamen 361021, China
2
State Key Laboratory for Marine Corrosion and Protection, Luoyang Ship Material Research Institute,
Xiamen 361101, China
* Correspondence: linxuexia@hqu.edu.cn
† These authors contributed equally to this work.
Abstract:
Antibiotics are considered a new type of organic pollutant. Antibiotic residues have become
a global issue due to their harm to human health. As the use of antibiotics is increasing in human life,
such as in medicine, crops, livestock, and even drinking water, the accurate analysis of antibiotics is
very vital. In order to develop rapid and on-site approaches for the detection of antibiotics and the
analysis of trace-level residual antibiotics, a high-sensitivity, simple, and portable solution is required.
Meanwhile, the rapid nanotechnology development of a variety of nanomaterials has been achieved.
In this review, nanomaterial-based techniques for antibiotic detection are discussed, and some reports
that have employed combined nanomaterials with optical techniques or electrochemical techniques
are highlighted.
Keywords: antibiotic; nanomaterials; electrochemical; optical technique
1. Introduction
Antibiotics have been widely used for the prevention and treatment of bacterial in-
fections in farming, animal husbandry, medical treatment and so on [
1
,
2
]. However, the
extensive, ever-increasing use of antibiotics and instances in which antibiotics are not
completely absorbed or completely metabolized create residues which flow into natu-
ral ecosystems, especially aquatic environments [
3
,
4
]. Various kinds of antibiotics have
been detected in food and animals, polluting surfaces, ground water, and even drinking
water [
5
]. Importantly, long-term exposure to residual antibiotics can increase resistant
microorganisms and antibiotic resistance [
6
]. According to a report from the World Health
Organization, antibiotic resistance causes approximately 700,000 people deaths every year
and is considered a major threat to human health. Moreover, through food-chain trans-
mission, the accumulation of antibiotics in environmental media and food products have
side effects on human health, such as decreasing human immunity [
7
]. Furthermore, the
residual antibiotics may also affect the sustainable development of society and the economy.
The ever-increasing use of antibiotics and residual antibiotics causes antibiotic pollution, a
problem which is becoming increasingly serious. Antibiotics are becoming a new type of
organic pollutant in the environment. Therefore, it is of extreme importance that antibiotics
are controlled for the protection of human health and safety.
There are currently technologies that have been developed for the qualitative/quantitative
analysis of antibiotics [
8
,
9
]. These technologies mainly include two categories. The first is the
precision instrument analysis method, represented by chromatography–mass spectrometry,
which requires special instruments and equipment and professional personnel to operate
has a high detection cost [
10
]. The other category comprise rapid detection methods, mainly
including the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), electrochemical methods, optical
Biosensors 2023, 13, 327. https://doi.org/10.3390/bios13030327 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/biosensors
