Phthalocyanine based sensors for detection of pesticides in liquid and their surface morphology investigation

Quartz crystal microbalance sensors modified with specially designed phthalocyanines having crown ether substituents as sensitive materials are explored and described as a simple but effective method for the direct measurement of pesticides such as orthophosphates and carbamates in liquid media. The sensors introduced here are very sensitive with pesticides detection limits near 50 ppb in water. Sensors are working fully reversible and reliable over long periods of time suitable for repeated measurements of large sample quantities or continuous long-time monitoring. The generally outstanding performance is attributed to the high stability, good homogeneity, and low roughness of the sensitive layers formed by the particular phthalocyanines. In view of their high sensitivity and selectivity the sensors are a good basis for a chemical sensor array for pesticide classification and quantification of polluted samples.