Nanomaterial-based adsorbents and optical sensors for illicit drug analysis

The abuse of illicit drugs has been prevalent in recent years and is associated with crime and public health issues. To strengthen public security and fortify public health services with respect to the increasing severity of drug abuse, academic and government institutes have been devoted to constructing relative analytical methods for illicit drugs. To date, the development of sensors has been greatly emphasized due to their features of high sensitivity, prompt detection and flexible manipulation; thus, sensors can serve as alternatives to conventional sophisticated instruments. Recently, the use of nanomaterials has inspired the development of a series of innovative sample pretreatment and detection strategies in the field of analytical chemistry. Herein, this review elaborated the application of nanomaterials in analytical methods, including sample pretreatments, colorimetric sensors and fluorescent sensors. The utilization of nanomaterials in the analytical field provides novel perspectives for the development of detection platforms and facilitates the monitoring of illicit drugs in diverse complex matrices.