Detection of Pesticide Residues Using Nano-SERS Chip and a Smartphone-Based Raman Sensor

Nowadays, detection of pesticide residues is generally conducted in the laboratory using large-scale equipment such as liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, etc. These detection methods usually require a complicated pre-treatments and professional operators, which are time-consuming and expensive. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) technology makes trace detection of pesticide residues implementable, but currently the devices for SERS on the market are all large-scale and rapid detection of pesticide residues has not been achieved yet. In this paper, a novel SERS system integrated with a cellphone is designed for the detection of pesticide residues. In the current system, the SERS chip is inserted directly onto the, and measurement of pesticide residues can be conducted by one-click through the cellphone application. We achieved successfully detection of 12 kinds of pesticides with characteristic Raman spectra and the limit of detection was less than 10 ppm, which makes rapid and on-site detection of pesticide residues feasible in future point of care test applications.