Biosensors based on fluorescence carbon nanomaterials for detection of pesticides

Abstract Fluorescence carbon nanomaterials-based sensors for accurate tracing of pesticides in environmental, food and biological samples have gained considerable interest in the past decade years to protect ecosystem, guarantee food safety and prevent disease, making it a trending hot-spot. This review focuses on recent advances and new trends of pesticides monitoring (including organophosphorus, neonicotinoids and carbamates pesticides) on the base of fluorescence carbon nanomaterials, with particular emphasis on zero-dimensional (0-D) carbon dots/graphene quantum dots, 2-D carbon nitride nanosheets and 3-D carbon-based metal/covalent organic frameworks. These fluorometric strategies are classified by several main recognition unit, including enzyme, antibody, aptamer and molecularly-imprinted polymers, offering great performance for pesticides with a limit of detection down to pg mL−1 level. Beyond performance comparation of these emerging sensors with other strategies, we discuss the existing hurdles and present challenges to practical sensor designs, followed by exploring future perspectives for breakthroughs in fluorescence carbon nanomaterials-based sensors.