Recent Developments and Applications of Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Spectroscopy in Pesticides Detection: From Single Pesticides to Mixed Pesticides.

Pesticides directly pollute the environment and food, eventually being absorbed into the human body. Their residues are highly toxic and pose serious health risks. Chromatography and gas liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry are widely employed for pesticide residue detection. However, these methods are often labor-intensive due to complex pretreatment processes, time-consuming procedures, and high energy consumption. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy is regarded as a new detection method for agricultural residues due to its advantages of high sensitivity, excellent specificity, comprehensive fingerprint information and nondestructive to samples. This technique enables efficient detection of trace pesticide residues in both liquid and solid samples via simple extraction. In this review, the classification of SERS substrates, peak attribution of Raman reporter molecules, label-free detection of single and mixed pesticide residues, and the application of labeled detection have been comprehensively reviewed. The study aims to provide a valuable reference for pesticide residue detection, particularly for the simultaneous detection of multiple pesticide residues. Additionally, the review explores the challenges and future prospects of SERS technology in pesticide residue detection, including the difficulties of achieving synchronous detection, advancements in intelligent algorithm development, and the construction of portable on-site detection platforms. These innovations are designed to simplify the detection process and offer insights into selecting optimal sensing methods for on-site detection of multiple pesticide residues.