Application of minerals for electrochemical sensing: a review of recent advances

Electrochemical sensors are analytical tools widely researched and applied in the analysis of various environmental, industrial, clinical, and other analytes of interest. Materials science is closely linked to the development of these devices because materials capable of significantly improving the electrochemical response through an electrocatalytic effect, increasing the electroactive area, and enhancing conductivity at the electrochemical interface are required to reach low detection limits. To this aim, a variety of synthetic materials, primarily nanomaterials, have been employed. However, mineral science and engineering play an important role in providing minerals with the previously mentioned properties, while avoiding synthesis processes and waste generation. Recently, clays, sulfides, oxides, phosphates, and carbonaceous materials have become a growing topic in electrochemical sensing research. The use of clay, sulfide, oxide, and phosphate-minerals, as well as natural carbon-based materials in the development of electrochemical sensors applied for the determination of heavy metals, drugs, food additives, industrial precursors, and pesticides, is reviewed in this study. The review was based on searches in Google Scholar and ScienceDirect, presenting articles on minerals and natural carbonaceous materials from 2014 through the most recent ones (2025). In addition, the review begins with a historical bibliometric analysis based on the Web of Science database, covering the topic from 1990 to the present. The paper discusses the main structural characteristics and properties that justify the use of minerals for electrochemical sensing. The review demonstrated that minerals and natural carbonaceous materials are competitive, and sometimes superior, as modifiers and bulk electrode materials compared to synthetic materials, exhibiting a wide linear range, repeatability, reproducibility, a low detection limit, negligible interference detection, and long-term stability. The main limitations center on the availability of certain minerals and carbon-based materials, as well as low conductivity at the interface. Combining minerals and natural carbon-based materials in composites with nanomaterials appears to be a way to mitigate these limitations and seems to be the preferred approach.