Biomonitoring and biosensor technologies for detecting bioinorganic toxicants in polluted environments

Rapid industrialization and urbanization have resulted in the widespread contamination of the natural ecosystems with bioinorganic toxicants such as heavy metals, metalloids, and metalloid-based nanoparticles. These pollutants pose severe ecological and public health risks due to their persistence, bioaccumulation, and potential to disrupt biological systems at cellular and molecular levels. Consequently, there is an urgent need for efficient, sensitive, and real-time monitoring strategies to assess environmental exposure. This review critically examines recent advances in biomonitoring and biosensor technologies developed for the detection of bioinorganic toxicants in polluted environments. It discusses various biological indicators ranging from microbial consortia and algae to higher plants and animals that serve as natural sentinels of contamination. Furthermore, it explores the integration of nanotechnology, electrochemical transduction, and optical sensing in biosensor platforms to enhance sensitivity, selectivity, and field applicability. Emphasis is placed on the emerging role of nanobiosensors, bioelectronic interfaces, and portable lab-on-chip systems for point-of-care environmental diagnostics. The review also highlights the challenges of sensor stability, environmental complexity, and data interpretation, proposing a future direction toward multi-analyte detection, artificial intelligence-assisted data analysis, and one health-based surveillance frameworks. Therefore, this review explore the transformative potential of biomonitoring and biosensor technologies in safeguarding environmental and human health from bioinorganic toxicants.