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Application of Biosensors in Water Quality and Aquatic Environment Monitoring

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "New Sensors, New Technologies and Machine Learning in Water Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 July 2026 | Viewed by 749

Special Issue Editors

College of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
Interests: environmental monitoring; analytical chemistry; biosensors; environmental health; emerging contaminants analysis

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Guest Editor
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China
Interests: biosensing; optical/electrochemical detection; environmental health; separation sensing membrane; sensors

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The preservation of water resources is a critical global challenge, necessitating advanced monitoring tools that deliver rapid, sensitive, and on-site analysis of pollutants. Traditional methods often involve complex, time-consuming laboratory procedures, hindering real-time response. Biosensors, which integrate a biological recognition element with a physicochemical transducer, offer a powerful alternative. They provide the potential for high specificity, portability, and continuous monitoring of a wide range of aquatic contaminants, from nutrients and heavy metals to organic micropollutants and pathogens.

This Special Issue aims to gather the latest research and review articles on the development, innovation, and practical application of biosensors for aquatic environments. We seek to highlight advancements that enhance the feasibility of biosensors for real-world water quality assessment and environmental surveillance.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Development of novel biorecognition elements (enzymes, antibodies, aptamers, whole cells).
  • Nanomaterial-enhanced biosensing platforms for improved sensitivity and selectivity.
  • Lab-on-a-chip and microfluidic biosensors for field-deployable water analysis.
  • Biosensors for detection of emerging contaminants (e.g., antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes, PFAS, EDCs, microplastics).
  • Validation and application of biosensors in complex water matrices (e.g., river water, sewage, groundwater, industrial wastewater).
  • Real-time and continuous biosensor networks for long-term environmental monitoring.

Dr. Jisui Tan
Dr. Xu Zhu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • environmental monitoring
  • biosensor
  • emerging contaminants
  • portable device

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 4163 KB  
Article
Label-Free and Ultrasensitive Detection of Hg2+ Based on Structure Switching of Aptamer and Rolling Circle Amplification (RCA)
by Lanhua Liu, Shuchi Li, Jingli Wu, Yuting Mei, Jiahui Su, Bohan Wang, Qiuren Wei and Bo Shen
Water 2026, 18(9), 1017; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18091017 - 24 Apr 2026
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Abstract
Mercury ions (Hg2+), a heavy metal contaminant of strong biotoxicity, pose a serious threat to ecosystems and human health in aquatic environments. Developing highly sensitive and specific detection methods is therefore of great importance. This study presents a novel label-free fluorescent [...] Read more.
Mercury ions (Hg2+), a heavy metal contaminant of strong biotoxicity, pose a serious threat to ecosystems and human health in aquatic environments. Developing highly sensitive and specific detection methods is therefore of great importance. This study presents a novel label-free fluorescent biosensor for Hg2+ by ingeniously coupling target-induced aptamer switching with rolling circle amplification (RCA). Upon Hg2+ binding, the conformational change releases a sequestered primer to initiate RCA, generating G-quadruplex-rich DNA products that produce a strong “turn-on” signal with N-methylmesoporphyrin IX (NMM). Under optimized conditions, the assay exhibits excellent linearity from 10 to 1000 nM with a detection limit of 3.2 nM, along with high selectivity over competing metal ions. Validation using spiked environmental water samples yielded accurate and reproducible recoveries in the range of 93.8% to 106.0%. With its operational simplicity, high sensitivity, and robust performance in complex matrices, this label-free strategy offers a reliable and promising platform for detecting Hg2+ in environmental waters. Full article
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Review

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18 pages, 2109 KB  
Review
Application of g-C3N4-Based Photoelectrochemical Sensor in Water Environment Monitoring
by Mingjuan Zhang, Ziyi Wei, Jingyi Zhao and Jisui Tan
Water 2026, 18(10), 1248; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18101248 - 21 May 2026
Abstract
Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), an emerging metal-free semiconductor material, has attracted considerable attention in the field of photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensing due to its unique electronic structure, excellent chemical stability, and visible-light responsiveness. This article systematically reviews recent advances in [...] Read more.
Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), an emerging metal-free semiconductor material, has attracted considerable attention in the field of photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensing due to its unique electronic structure, excellent chemical stability, and visible-light responsiveness. This article systematically reviews recent advances in research on g-C3N4-based PEC sensors applied to water environment monitoring. First, the fundamental physicochemical properties of g-C3N4 are introduced, along with its advantages and limitations in PEC sensing applications. Subsequently, four main performance enhancement strategies are outlined: heterojunction construction (including type II, Z-scheme, and S-scheme heterojunction), elemental doping and defect engineering, morphology control and nanostructure design, as well as various signal amplification approaches such as self-powered systems, dual-mode detection, and cyclic amplification. Furthermore, the current application status of these sensors in detecting typical water pollutants, including heavy metal ions (e.g., Pb2+, Cu2+, Cd2+, Hg2+), antibiotics (e.g., tobramycin, norfloxacin, kanamycin), pesticide residues (e.g., chlorpyrifos, atrazine, glyphosate), and pathogenic microorganisms (e.g., Salmonella, Candida albicans), is comprehensively reviewed, with particular emphasis on detection sensitivity, selectivity, and real-sample performance. Finally, the remaining challenges in terms of long-term stability, anti-interference capabilities in complex matrices, portability, and multifunctional integration are analyzed, and future development directions are proposed, including smartphone-based intelligent sensing, CRISPR/Cas12a-assisted signal amplification, and multi-target high-throughput detection. This review aims to provide a reference for the rational design and practical application of g-C3N4-based PEC sensors in the field of water environment monitoring. Full article
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