CURRENT TRENDS IN PESTICIDE DETECTION VIA SURFACE ENHANCED RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY (SERS)
Abstract
As the world population increases, the demand for cheap and adequate food inflates, pushing the farming industry to make use of pesticides in growing amounts year by year. The excess use of pesticides threatens human and wild-life health by direct consumption or in indirect manners via accumulations in soil and ground water. Thus, to monitor the usage of pesticides in farming industry is of utmost importance for the sake of human health preservation of wild-life. Various analytical methods are being utilized in order to detect hazardous substances , however these methods require complex sample preparation procedures, expensive instruments and trained staff. Morever, these instruments are quite disadvantageous since the do not enable on-site analyses because of their massive structures. On the other hand, Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS), which utilizes metallic nanoparticles enable detection at ultra-low concentrations and it enables on-site analyses with quite simple sample preparation procedures and portable spectrometers. In this review, basics of Raman and SERS is presented, current SERS substrates are explained, basic groups of pesticides are introduced and finally some of the current detection studies conducted via SERS are exhibited.
References
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