Development of an Electrochemical Aptasensor for Paraquat Detection

Abstract

Paraquat (PQ) is one of the most commonly used herbicides aiming to eliminate undesired weeds in both agricultural and non-agricultural settings. Nevertheless, highly life-threatening effects on human health have raised global awareness. Although several countries have persuaded the ban on PQ utilization, the prolonged persistence in environments still poses the risk of its contamination in natural resources and commodities to human exposure. Therefore, the development of alternative analytical techniques for screening and monitoring residue contamination is needed. Herein, this study proposed an electrochemical aptasensor as a sensing platform for PQ detection. The performance results demonstrated the working range between 1 to 10 μg/mL with the calculated limit of detection at 4.44 μg/mL. A good selectivity against the most coutilized pesticides including diquat and glyphosate was also achieved. The recovery rate in spiked canal water showed a satisfactory outcome at 104.94%, implying a promising alternative method for PQ detection.