Recent advances in the optical sensing of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) based on noble metal nanoparticles

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) pose a significant threat to ecosystems and human health even at trace concentrations, making their efficient detection a critical analytical challenge. Although conventional chromatographic techniques offer high accuracy, their operational complexity limits rapid and on-site monitoring. Noble metal nanomaterials (NMNs), owing to their excellent plasmonic and optical properties, have emerged as versatile building blocks in optical sensing. This review first summarizes the fundamental properties of NMNs that are relevant to optical sensing, including facile surface functionalization, plasmonic tunability, energy-/charge- transfer capabilities, and nanozyme-like catalytic activity. Building on these properties, recent advances in NMN-enabled optical sensing for EDC detection are discussed, covering surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), surface plasmon resonance (SPR), colorimetric sensing, fluorescence sensing, electrochemiluminescence (ECL), and multi-target/multimodal optical platforms. Beyond sensing performance, the key barriers to real-world application are further analyzed, with particular attention to limitations in nanomaterial synthesis and challenges in real-sample detection. Finally, future perspectives are outlined for developing greener nanomaterials, integrated sensing platforms, and AI-assisted intelligent analysis toward reliable environmental and biomedical monitoring.