Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy applied to environmental systems and their potential contaminants. An overview of advances achieved in the last few years

A critical review is provided on the progress achieved in the last few years in the use of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) technique in environmental system monitoring. In the first part of this review a short description of LIBS equipments, LIBS basic physical principles and supporting advanced calibration methods and chemometric approaches to LIBS analysis are provided. In the second part of the review the most recent applications of LIBS to the analysis of relevant solid, liquid and gaseous environmental systems and their contaminants, including soil, rocks, sands, sediments, eletronic wastes, waters, landfill leachates, lubricating oils and aerosols, are described. The potential and versatility of LIBS as a promising analytical tool in environmental science for in situ applications with minimal or no sample pretreatment are highlighted. The review ends with a brief conclusion and future perspectives.