Fast Screening of Dithiocarbamate, Chloronicotinyl and Organophosphate Pesticides By Raman Spectroelectrochemistry Based on EC-SERS Effect

Abstract

Electrochemical surface-enhanced Raman scattering (EC-SERS) effect is an outstanding procedure that ensures the enhancement of Raman signal by the electrochemical activation of the electrode surface. In that way, activation of metallic screen-printed electrodes (SPEs) by electrochemical routes leads to the generation of reproducible nanostructures with excellent SERS properties [1,2] and opens new gates for analytical applications.In this work, detection of thiram, imidacloprid and chlorpyrifos pesticides is achieved by the development of a new procedure. This methodology offers a quick and easy protocol which consists of three steps: (1) preconcentration of the sample, (2) electrochemical activation of SPE and (3) Raman detection of pesticides (Figure 1).Figure 1. Raman spectrum of thiram obtained following the proposed procedure.Analysis of tap water samples provides suitable results that demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed method. In that way, Raman spectroelectrochemistry based on EC-SERS effect avoids the complicated instrumentation, tedious pretreatment protocols or time-consuming measurement procedures used in other methods, and offers an interesting alternative in fields as environmental and food safety.