Easy Pesticide Detection Possible Through New Nanosensor Than Scans Fruit in Just Minutes

Sweden's Karolinska Institutet recently demonstrated an innovation that has the power to scan foods for harmful pesticides. This model specializes in scanning fruits and, within minutes, could tell if the product contains unwanted chemicals used for growing trees and crops.

The fruit scanner is built with a function that sprays nanoparticles through a flame. The nanomaterials were made from silver to heighten the accuracy of chemical reactions and increase the chances of finding pesticides. The research authors believe that this device would be an effective solution to safer food production before being delivered to homes for consumption.

Pesticide Nanosensor

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Karolinska Institutet's microbiology specialist and co-author of the study, Georgios Sotiriou, explained in a PhysOrg report that, according to previous studies, almost half of the fruits produced across Europe have residues of pesticides that are commonly linked to various issues on our health.

This commonly overlooked problem is becoming widespread due to the lack of technologies for detecting pesticides on fruits and the high cost of building devices that could function properly.

Because of these restrictions, the team assembled a pesticide nanosensor that is easy to reproduce and inexpensive. The user-friendly device could monitor traces of the damaging chemicals quickly, even if the product is already at the store for sale.

The surface-enhanced Raman scattering or SERS inspired the nano-based fruit scanner, a method conceptualized in the 1970s for increasing the detection of biomolecule signals throughout a metal surface and effectively relay diagnostics by one million times.

SERS was previously utilized in other chemicals, environmental, and medical research that requires biomarker screenings. Even though the approach is present in laboratories, creating one specializing in food safety was still not developed due to high production costs and the challenging assembly involved when creating models.

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Experts that managed the new study incorporated the use of flame spray to produce SERS-based nanosensors. Through this spray mechanism, droplets of silver nanoparticles could be bombarded to a surface.

Detecting Pesticides from Fruit in Just 5 Minutes

Fellow Karolinska, microbiologist, and lead author of the study Haipeng Li explained that the flame spray could be utilized by applying the SERS films across wide surfaces in just a short span of time. Each of the nanoparticles has a distance that was calculated for enhanced sensitivity.

The authors tested the scanner's accuracy by applying a tracer dye and observing it under a spectrometer to get their molecular information. The results remained the same when the sensors were retested after 2.5 months, yielding a stunning efficacy and shelf-life that could be offered for large-scale production.

Among the chemicals that were tested for the scanning phase was the parathion-ethyl. Due to its effects, this compound is a toxic pesticide that was already prohibited in agricultural use in many countries.

Results show that the scanner could detect the pesticides without damaging the fruit, with all the processes taking only five minutes.

The study was published in Advanced Science, "SERS Hotspot Engineering by Aerosol Self-Assembly of Plasmonic Ag Nanoaggregates with Tunable Interparticle Distance."