Sensors quickly detect pesticides in fruit

To help consumers quickly detect pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables, experts at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden (KI), have developed a micro sensor that can detect pesticides on fruits and vegetables. plants within minutes.

This sensor detects pesticides in fruit in just a few minutes.

These are the nanosensors that "come out" from the invention in the 70s of the last century called SERS (Surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy or Surface-enhanced Raman scattering), increasing the biomolecular diagnostic signal. learning on metal surfaces more than 1 million times.

KI's nanosensors are reproducible, inexpensive and universal compared to traditional techniques. Can be used to track traces of pesticides on fruit at the store. It is made by using a flamethrower technique to evenly distribute silver nanoparticles onto the glass surface. Next, the team fine-tuned the distances between individual silver nanoparticles to improve sensitivity.

Sensitivity testing shows that the sensor reliably detects residues of toxins and uniforms the molecular signals and performance after 2 and a half months of existence on the surface of the test product. In the test, low concentrations of parathion-ethyl, an agricultural pesticide banned or restricted in most countries, were applied to apples. As a result, KI detected pesticide residues on the surface of apples within 5 minutes without damaging the fruit.