1. Introduction
With the rapid industrialization and urbanization over the past
few decades, environmental issues like the pollution of air, water
and other natural resources have been a major global concern.
Some of the major anthropogenic sources that contribute toward
the deterioration of environments are derived from industrial
and agricultural activities such as improper solid waste disposal
and bioaccumulation of toxic wastes, massive use of pesticides
and synthetic fertilizers, and use of biological warfare agents.
Humans are often exposed to a myriad of adverse health effects
due to the toxicity of these pollutants, mainly through the
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.04.063
0045-6535/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: adani@engr.ucr.edu (A. Mulchandani). 1 Equal contributions.
Chemosphere 143 (2016) 85–98
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Chemosphere
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chemosphere
ingestion of contaminated food and drinking water, as well as the
inhalation of ambient air with high concentrations of pollutants.
These issues emphasize the importance of developing reliable,
highly sensitive, user-friendly and cost effective tools for constant
monitoring and detection of pollutants in different mediums.