Flexible and Adhesive Surface Enhance Raman Scattering Active Tape for Rapid Detection of Pesticide Residues in Fruits and Vegetables

The efficient extraction of targets from complex surfaces is vital for technological applications ranging from environmental pollutant monitoring to analysis of explosive traces and pesticide residues. In our present study, we proposed a proof-of-concept surface enhance Raman scattering (SERS) active substrate serving directly to the rapid extraction and detection of target molecules. The novel substrate was constructed by decorating the commercial tape with colloidal gold nanoparticles (Au NPs), which simultaneously provides SERS activity and "sticky" of adhesive. The utility of SERS tape was demonstrated by directly extracting pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables via a simple and viable "paste and peel off" approach. The obtained strong and easily distinguishable SERS signals allow us to detect various pesticide residues such as parathion-methyl, thiram, and chlorpyrifos in the real samples with complex surfaces including green vegetable, cucumber, orange, and apple.