Research Projects

Unfettered use of pesticides and herbicides has sought to address increasing demands on agricultural production. However, their impact on the environment and on human health has progressively emerged as a matter of grave concern. Easy-to-use and affordable detection methods for pesticides and herbicides would enable wider appreciation of the hazards associated with their overuse. We have developed a field-deployable reusable prototype/approach that is capable of colorimetric detection of the most widely used herbicides at sub-ppm levels. Our nanobiocatalyst-mediated approach relies on the selective transformation of herbicides proffered by the biocatalyst and reusability, robustness and sensitivity provided by the nanoparticle component. The approach can be extended towards detection of a variety of pesticides and herbicides.