Recent Advances in Uranyl Ion Sensing: Exploring Optical and Electrochemical Based Sensors for Precise Detection and...

Uranium contamination in environmental matrices poses significant radiological and chemical hazards to human health and ecosystems, necessitating precise, sensitive, selective, and rapid detection methodologies. This review is intended for researchers, analytical chemists, environmental scientists, and nuclear safety professionals, focusing on laboratory-scale and field-deployable sensing technologies for UO₂²⁺ ion detection. This comprehensive review examines recent advances in UO₂²⁺ ion sensing technologies, encompassing fluorometric, colorimetric, electrochemical, RLS, and SERS approaches. Fluorometric sensors, including AIL, PET, and QDs-based platforms etc., achieve detection limits at picomolar concentrations. Colorimetric methods offer visual detection suitable for field applications, while electrochemical sensors provide real-time monitoring through surface-functionalized electrodes. RLS and SERS enable ultrasensitive detection through signal amplification. Each methodology is critically evaluated regarding sensitivity, selectivity, detection range, response time, validation level, regulatory relevance, and practical applicability. The review highlights molecular design strategies, nanomaterial engineering, and mechanistic principles underlying sensor performance, alongside a modality-specific comparative framework, structured performance tables, and application-oriented analysis to bridge the gap between laboratory sensitivity and real-world implementation. Fluorometric methods excel in laboratory sensitivity, colorimetric approaches enable portable field deployment, and electrochemical systems offers continuous monitoring. Future perspectives emphasize multifunctional hybrid sensors, smartphone-based detection, and sustainable nanomaterial design to address critical challenges in matrix tolerance, and long-term stability, facilitating translation from laboratory innovations to practical environmental monitoring and nuclear safety applications.