Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy in Africa

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), known also as laser-induced plasma spectroscopy (LIPS), is a well-known spectrochemical elemental analysis technique. The field of LIBS has been rapidly matured as a consequence of growing interest in real-time analysis across a broad spectrum of applied sciences and recent development of commercial LIBS analytical systems. In this brief review, we introduce the contributions of the research groups in the African continent in the field of the fundamentals and applications of LIBS. As it will be shown, the fast development of LIBS in Africa during the last decade was mainly due to the broad environmental, industrial, archaeological, and biomedical applications of this technique.