Development of the screen-printed electrodes: A mini review on the application for pesticide detection

The periodically excessive use of pesticides in agricultural production has caused eco-toxicity and environmental pollution issues. Developing analytical methods for pesticides that respond to the growing need to perform rapid, in situ analysis showed the bio-sensing technique as a complementary tool of classical chromatographic methods for in situ measurements and screening. Compared with the traditional solid-state electrode, the screen-printed electrode (SPE) owns the merits of low cost, easier integration, versatility, portability, smaller sizes and mass-produce, and it has been widely applied for pesticides detection. Herein, the first section of this review briefly introduces the definition of the screen-printing technique (SPT) and the preparation procedure, printing materials and advantages of the SPE, discusses the most important physical and chemical methods for SPE activation. It then summarizes the current utilization of SPE, focus on various available bioreceptors and nanomaterials modified SPE sensors and biosensors, as a novel approach for detection of the pesticides (including organophosphorus pesticides (OPs), carbamate pesticides (CPs), and herbicide pesticides (HPs)). Furthermore, it also covers the sensing principles of the SPE-based sensors along with their analytical performance, advantages and shortcomings. Finally, the current challenges and future directions for the SPE and the SPE-based electrochemical sensors for pollutants are outlined.