What are the Main Sensor Methods for Quantifying Pesticides in Agricultural Activities? A Review

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increase in pesticide use to improve crop production due to the growth of agricultural activities. Consequently, various pesticides have been present in the environment for an extended period of time. This review presents a general description of recent advances in the development of methods for the quantification of pesticides used in agricultural activities. Current advances focus on improving sensitivity and selectivity through the use of nanomaterials in both sensor assemblies and new biosensors. In this study, we summarize the electrochemical, optical, nano-colorimetric, piezoelectric, chemo-luminescent and fluorescent techniques related to the determination of agricultural pesticides. A brief description of each method and its applications, detection limit, purpose—which is to efficiently determine pesticides—cost and precision are considered. The main crops that are assessed in this study are bananas, although other fruits and vegetables contaminated with pesticides are also mentioned. While many studies have assessed biosensors for the determination of pesticides, the research in this area needs to be expanded to allow for a balance between agricultural activities and environmental protection.

Carbon quantum dots for the detection of antibiotics and pesticides

“…Screening for pesticides (including fungicide, insecticide, and herbicide) in the environment or on food products are also extremely crucial for human health, as consumption of pesticides can lead to or risk serious issues such as acute pesticide poisoning, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, increase attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) for children [15][16][17]. Traditional methods of detection such as cell culturing, gas chromatography (GC), and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) require expensive and sophisticated instrumentation, complicated sample preparation processes, and tedious detection time [18]. CQDs, with their unique optical and catalytic characteristics, offers a promising approach for simple and rapid detection.…”

Food Sensors: Challenges and Opportunities

“…[ 82 ] The consumption of pesticide‐contaminated food is a significant health concern and it has become a target analyte for food contaminant detection systems. [ 83 ] Different optical and electronic strategies are well discussed in recent reviews [ 84 ] using molecularly imprinted polymers, [ 85 ] metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), [ 86 ] and surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) [ 87 ] and microfluidic devices. [ 88 ] Pesticide residues in food are regulated and maximum residue limits (MRL) are specified by national regulatory bodies.…”

Metal Nanostructures for Environmental Pollutant Detection Based on Fluorescence

“…As such, the demand for highly sensitive pesticide sensors is pressing in order to control food safety, protect ecosystem and prevent disease. Accurate detection systems of these contaminants are available as chemical sensors, biosensors and electronical sensors [ 106 , 107 ]. However, besides high sensitivity and selectivity offered by those systems, the need for easy manipulation, rapid detection, disposability makes optical sensors for pesticides a good solution for on-field analysis and screening.…”