A novel, rapidly preparable and easily maintainable biocathode electrochemical biosensor for the continuous and stable detection of nitrite in water.

Abstract Nitrite is a highly toxic and pathogenic pollutant that is widely distributed in various nitrogenous wastewaters. Therefore, there is an urgent need for fast and stable nitrite detection to avoid water pollution and protect human health. In this study, we developed a novel rapidly preparable and easily maintainable biocathode electrochemical biosensor (BEB) using nitrite-reducing bacteria as the detectors to realize continuous nitrite monitoring in wastewater. The preparation of the biocathode was shortened by the polarity inversion method to less than 6 d. The BEB could detect nitrite solution samples in the range of 0.1– 16.0 mg NO2−-N L−1 within 1.7 min. The BEB was also successfully used to detect nitrite in real wastewater with a relative error