Heavy metal ion pollution has threatened the environmental and human safety. Therefore, there is a remarkable demand to detect heavy metal ions in a fast, sensitive and selective way. Although conventional sensors have been designed and widely applied in heavy metal ion determination, they present many limitations and challenges. Graphene-based nanotechnology overcomes these challenges and endows the sensing platform better performance. In this overview, studies concerning graphene-based optical nanosensors for heavy metal ion detection have been summarized, paying special attention to sensors based on graphene, graphene oxide, and graphene quantum dots. In addition, prospects and developing trends of nanosensors for heavy metal ion analysis are also proposed.

重金属离子污染已经威胁到环境和人类安全。因此，迫切需要以快速，灵敏和选择性的方式检测重金属离子。尽管已经设计了常规传感器并将其广泛应用于重金属离子测定中，但它们仍存在许多限制和挑战。基于石墨烯的纳米技术克服了这些挑战，并赋予传感平台更好的性能。在此概述中，已总结了有关用于重金属离子检测的基于石墨烯的光学纳米传感器的研究，并特别关注基于石墨烯，氧化石墨烯和石墨烯量子点的传感器。此外，还提出了用于重金属离子分析的纳米传感器的前景和发展趋势。