Detection of emerging contaminants in solutions via surface amplified Raman scattering (SERS)

• Grant number: 21/05460-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: January 01, 2022
• End date: August 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Carlos José Leopoldo Constantino
• Grantee: Marcelo José dos Santos Oliveira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (FCT). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Presidente Prudente. Presidente Prudente , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/22214-6 - Towards a convergence of technologies: from sensing and biosensing to information visualization and machine learning for data analysis in clinical diagnosis, AP.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 22/09619-2 - Colloidal aggregation mechanisms induced by distinct sample preparation methods and their relation with SERS sensitivity and reproducibility, BE.EP.MS

Abstract

The demand for food worldwide requires its large-scale production. In this context, the application of pesticides, among other strategies for increasing productivity per planted area, is a reality. However, the intensive application of pesticides can induce their retention in crops and soil and, mainly by runoff or leaching, these can reach from surface to groundwater. Therefore, the determination of pesticide residues, or even so-called emerging contaminants (ECs, such as drugs, hormones, beauty products, fragrances, plasticizers, etc.), in water, soil and food has attracted the attention of several researchers to better understand and determine environmental and health impacts. However, the difficulty lies in the limits of water potability, associated with these ECs (in this project only the 2.4 D presents such standards), as they are usually of the order of 10-9 mol/L. In view of this, the detection of such concentration is a challenge that requires the use of high sensitivity and selectivity techniques, which is the case of the surface-enhanced Raman scattering technique (SERS). In this project, SERS measurements of the following ECs, the herbicide acid 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic (2,4-D), the drug ibuprofen (IBP) and the hormone 17²-estradiol (E2) will be performed. Such compounds will be diluted in colloidal suspensions containing Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs), aiming to understand the role played by AgNPs in the detection of these ECs, at concentrations above and below the MRL when there is as for 2.4 D, or the minimum possible concentration, as for IBP and E2. The ECs will be investigated not only in their individual form but also in cocktail (mixing). Therefore, this project intends to advance in the area of monitoring of ECs, is inserted in the thematic project FAPESP (2018/22214-6) in force between March 2020 and February 2025. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

OLIVEIRA, Marcelo José dos Santos. Detection of emerging contaminants in solutions via surface amplified Raman scattering (SERS). 2023. Master's Dissertation - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia. Presidente Prudente Presidente Prudente.