Spectrophotometric detection of thiram pesticide in vegetables, fruits, soil and water samples using silane-modified silver nanoparticles

We have synthesized 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane capped silver nanoparticles (Si-AgNPs) at room temperature. The Si-AgNPs was characterized by using UV-visible, HR-TEM, FT-IR spectroscopy, LC-MS spectroscopy and XRD techniques. Interestingly, the addition of 9.9 mu M of thiram pesticide caused the UV-visible spectral and colour to changes. We calculated the concentration of thiram pesticide based on changes in the surface plasma resonance (SPR) absorbance. The limit of detection (LOD) was determined to be 213 nM. Further, we proposed a possible sensing mechanism for the detection of thiram pesticide. Finally, we applied our probe for the sensing of thiram pesticide in tap water, river water, apple and guava samples, soil samples and vegetable samples. In addition, we successfully validated our method with LC-MS method.

Automated summary

We synthesized 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane capped silver nanoparticles (Si-AgNPs) at room temperature and characterized them using various techniques. Thiram pesticide was found to cause changes in the UV-visible spectral and colour of Si-AgNPs, allowing for its detection and quantification. We applied our probe to detect thiram pesticide in various samples and successfully validated our method with LC-MS method.