Development of Colorimetric Paper Sensor for Pesticide Detection Using Competitive-inhibiting Reaction

Contamination by pesticides is an ever-increasing problem associated with fields of environmental management and healthcare. Accordingly, appropriate treatments are in demand. Pesticide detection methods have been researched extensively, aimed at making the detection convenient, fast, cost-effective, and easy to use. Among the various detecting strategies, paper-based assay is potent for real-time pesticide sensing due to its unique advantages including disposability, light weight, and low cost. In this study, a paper-based sensor for chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate pesticide, has been developed by layering three sheets of patterned plates. In colorimetric quantification of pesticides, the blue color produced by the interaction between acetylcholinesterase and indoxyl acetate is inhibited by the pesticide molecules present in the sample solutions. With the optimized paper-based sensor, the pesticide is sensitively detected (limit of detection=8.60 ppm) within 5 min. Furthermore, the shelf life of the device is enhanced to 14 days after from the fabrication, by treating trehalose solution onto the deposited reagents. We expect the paper-based device to be utilized as a first-screening analytic device for water quality monitoring and food analysis.