Recent trends in electrochemical detection of phosphate in actual waters

This review considers recent advances, during the last 3 years, devoted to electrochemical sensors adapted for phosphate determination in actual water samples. The recognition elements are classified as follows: metal-based electrodes, modified electrodes with polymers, metal complexes, such as phthalocyanines or molybdates, and a biological element, namely the enzyme pyruvate oxidase. The classical potentiometric or amperometric methods and also more sophisticate methods, such as field effect transistors, capacitive Mott-Schottky systems or electrochemical impedimetric method, are used for the transduction of the recognition signal. Analytical performance of these recently developed phosphate sensors are compared in terms of applicability to monitoring of natural and discharge waters.