Nanosize design of carbon dots, graphene quantum dots, and metal-organic frameworks based sensors for detection of chlorpyrifos in food and water: A review

Chlorpyrifos (CPS) is a pesticide that is extensively used in agriculture. Despite their significant advantages in agriculture, small amounts of CPS in food and water have serious negative effects on human health and the environment. As a result, the detection of CPS with high sensitivity and selectivity is an urgent need. Unfortu-nately, conventional methods have numerous shortcomings such as low sensitivity, poor selectivity, low stability, complex procedures, etc. Nowadays, smart nanomaterials such as carbon dots (CDs), graphene quantum dots (GQDs), and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are widely reported for sensing CPS because of their unique characteristics such as good stability, tunability, high surface area, optical and electrical properties, etc. Therefore, the present review article provides insights into advanced nanoarchitecture-based smart nano -materials namely CDs, GQDs, and MOFs mediated sensors for highly sensitive and selective sensing of CPS in water and food. Initially, the concept of CPS toxicity and the need to detect CPS are reviewed. Following this, smart advanced nanomaterial-based fluorescent, electrochemical, and colorimetric sensors for CPS monitoring in food and water are described. Finally, the current challenges and future promises of CDs, GQD, and MOF-based smart nanomaterials for CPS sensing are addressed. As an output, CDs, GQD, and MOF-based sensors provide the lowest detection limits down to femtograms (fg) for CPS detection. In addition, the reported sensors show high selectivity, good stability, and real-time applicability. In conclusion, CDs, GQDs, and MOFs-based sensing sys-tems for CPS revealed superior performance over conventional methods. Therefore, in the future, this study will provide insights to budding researchers to design ultramodern smart nanomaterial-mediated sensors for real-time applications.