Carbon Nanocomposites in Electrochemical Sensing of Pesticides: Trends, Materials, and Applications

Nowadays, the use of pesticides has been increased significantly to protect crops from pests. However, excessive use has raised serious concerns about human health and environmental safety. Pesticides and their's residues left on crops and in water bodies harm living organisms. Convntional lab methods or techniques such as liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, and capillary electrophoresis are reported with high accuracy but are also very costly, time-consuming, and require heavy equipment. In recent years, easily avaialble and cost effective methods, such as fluorescence spectroscopy, embedded systems, and electrochemical sensing, have gained attention. Among these, electrochemical sensing stands out because it is easy to use, cost-effective, and provides quick results. Its importance comes from its ability to perform on-site, real-time monitoring of pesticide residues, which reduces the need for centralized laboratories and facilitates decision-making in the areas of food safety and environmental protection. Electrochemical intruments also serve the growing demand for portable, small devices that can be used by farmers, regulators, and consumers to ensure compliance with safety standards. This review is focused on electrochemical techniques in detection of various pesticides at very low concentration. Carbon-based materials, like graphene, graphene oxide (GO), carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and quantum dots (QDs), have shown great promise due to their superior electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties. This review highlights the importance of carbon based materials to improve the accuracy and sensitivity of pesticides detection.