Electrochemical and Other Methods for Detection and Determination of Dissolved Nitrite: A Review

Nitrite has been widely used in industrial and agricultural production and is ubiquitous in food, water, biology and the environment. However, nitrite is also a toxic inorganic contaminant that is hazardous to the health of humans and other organisms. A variety of strategies have been proposed for detecting and monitoring nitrite in recent years. This article was compiled as a general review of the strategies proposed for nitrite detection, and relevant detection parameters (such as materials, detection limit, detection range, working pH and stability) were tabulated. This article is organized by the type of signal obtained from strategies, including electric and optical signals. Electrochemical methods receive an electric signal from dissolved nitrite, with voltammetric, potentiometric and impedimetric methods included. Methods that receive an optical signal include fluorescence, absorption and Raman spectrometry. Biosensors are proposed as a new detection method. The advantages/disadvantages and limitations of the techniques are discussed. Finally, methods employed to perform nitrite detection are summarized, and their future development is discussed.