Adsorption-Governed Plasmonic Sensing for Environmental Management and Monitoring Programs

Plasmonic environmental sensors are often characterized by optical enhancement, but their field performance is fundamentally governed by adsorption at the sensing interface. This review examines adsorption-controlled plasmonic sensing across water, air, soil, and food-environment matrices, emphasizing environmental management rather than cross-domain plasmonic applications. This review evaluates surface plasmon resonance, localized surface plasmon resonance, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering in terms of pretreatment requirements, matrix interference, fouling, regeneration, reproducibility, validation against standard methods, and technology readiness. The review shows that plasmonic platforms are most valuable when used as rapid screening, distributed, or early-warning tools that complement, rather than replace, reference methods such as ICP-MS, GC-MS, and LC-MS/MS. Practical translation requires matrix-matched calibration, antifouling strategies, stronger reporting standards, and side-by-side comparison with established analytical workflows. This paper proposes a management-oriented framework for deploying plasmonic sensors in tiered monitoring programs and integrating results into regulatory, operational, and decision-support contexts.