g-C₃N₄/transition metal dichalcogenide hybrid assemblies for emerging pharmaceutical drug detection: Recent advances...

The pharmaceutical contaminants (PCs) in the environment are a growing global concern due to their negative impact on human health. Even at trace levels, these substances contaminate water sources and aquatic ecosystems, posing risks to human health and the ecological balance. Among them, non-degradable, water-soluble residues that persist in surface and groundwater represent a particularly serious issue. Now United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation) 2030 explicitly addresses the reduction of pollution from non-degradable, water-soluble contaminants in surface and groundwater. This goal can be achieved by selectively detecting pollutants using nano-enabled functional systems. This study aims to discuss various types of pharmaceutical contaminants, such as Anticancer drugs, Antivirals/NSAIDs, Hormones, and steroidal drugs, their bio-toxicity, associated health risks, and detection methodologies using g-C₃N₄-based sensors. Due to their high surface area, chemical stability, electrocatalytic activity, and distinctive electrical properties, 2D graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have attracted significant attention for the development of electrochemical and colorimetric sensors for the detection of PCs. They also possess enhanced sensitivity, selectivity, and stability for the pharmaceuticals, clinical, and environmental samples. Despite extensive investigations of individual g-C₃N₄ and TMDs materials, their combined application in pharmaceutical drug detection remains relatively underexplored, particularly in the context of real clinical sample analysis, point-of-care and lab-on-chip device integration, and multiplexed drug sensing platforms.