Scientists Create Sensor to Protect Crops from Chemical Contamination

Scientists at Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU), together with their Czech colleagues, have created a device that will help farmers to quickly analyze the chemical content of soil.

The device will allow farmers to online monitor pesticides content in the soil, and, therefore, to prevent excessive chemicals from entering agricultural products. The study results were published in Talanta magazine.

According to the authors of the study, food safety is a global challenge for humanity. It’s necessary to control not only the production process and the quality of the products obtained, but also the use of pesticides in agriculture.

The TPU experts, together with colleagues from the Prague University of Chemistry and Technology, have developed a sensor that can detect pesticides in soil in near real-time mode. The sensor will help farmers to constantly monitor the concentration of pesticides in soil, which will make faster decision-making regarding increasing or decreasing the amount of chemicals in a particular area.

According to Pavel Postnikov, Associate Professor at TPU’s Research School of Chemistry & Applied Biomedical Sciences, the sensors are made of optical fiber, a simple and inexpensive material used to transmit information in the form of light pulses.

The scientist explained that as a result of resonance, the gold layer emits light. The fiber optic transmits data to a special sensor, where the number of signals is proportional to the content of pesticides.

Pesticide molecules can be counted by a special organometallic framework grown from matrix solution on the gold surface. A grid with cells of a certain size allows only pesticide molecules to pass to the gold layer.

According to the authors of the study, readily available materials, sensitivity, selectivity and the ability to constantly work in “a real-time mode” are the main advantages of the proposed sensor design. The scientists consider creating technology contributing to the advancement of intellectual agriculture to be their global mission.

Sourse: sputniknews.com