Enhancing food safety with zirconium-based electrochemical sensors: A comprehensive review

Food safety is a global concern due to contaminants like heavy metals, pesticides, and pharmaceutical residues, which pose significant health risks. The demand for rapid, cost-effective, and reliable detection methods continues to grow. Electrochemical sensors are promising for food safety monitoring due to their high sensitivity, ease of use, and real-time detection capabilities. Zirconium-based, materials including metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), zirconium oxides (ZrO₂), and zirconium phosphates (ZrP) offer high surface area, excellent chemical stability, and strong analyte interactions, making them ideal candidates for sensing applications. This review summarizes advancements in Zr-based electrochemical sensors for detecting food contaminants. First, the synthesis strategies and material properties are discussed, followed by an overview of their electrochemical sensing mechanisms. Developments in sensor performance, including improvements in stability, selectivity, and sensitivity are highlighted. Finally, challenges such as large-scale fabrication, long-term stability and real-world applicability are addressed, along with future perspectives on eco-friendly synthesis and enhanced detection.