Colorimetric nanozyme sensing array based on the interface interaction of platinum nanoparticles for discriminating structurally similar triazine pesticides in water

Abstract

The widespread use of triazine pesticides in agricultural practices raises concerns regarding their potential harm to both humans and the environment, given their known carcinogenic and neurotoxic effects. Triazine pesticides exhibit various toxic effects on organisms, posing a significant challenge in accurately distinguishing them due to their analogous structures. Herein, we functionalized platinum nanoparticles (Pt NPs) and constructed a three-channel sensing array by modulating their oxidase-like activities through various ligands on the surface of Pt NPs. Triazine pesticides can inhibit the activity of functionalized Pt NPs, allowing the substrate TMB to show different degrees of color development reaction, which provides a solid basis for the construction of sensing arrays by platinum nanozymes. The proposed platinum nanozyme sensing array showed good performance for the identification of five kinds of triazine pesticides (atrazine, simazine, metribuzin, metamitron, and terbutryn) across a wide range of concentrations (0.5–100 μg mL⁻¹) through statistical classification using advanced algorithms like linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). Importantly, the sensing array exhibited good anti-interference ability and achieved accurate discrimination of structurally similar triazine pesticides in real water samples. This study provided a simple and effective method for the identification of triazine pesticides, with potential for discriminating other related pollutants such as antibiotics and biotoxins for environmental monitoring and food safety.