Designing of Optical Sensor using ZnO as Sensing Material for Pesticide Detection
Natasya Salsabiila (a), Suratun Nafisah (a, b)*, Bambang Irawan (a), Lukman Nulhakim (b, c), Muhammad Reza Kahar Aziz (a), Marlia Morsin (d), Mitra Djamal (e)

(a) Departement of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Industrial and Production Technology, Institut Teknologi Sumatera (ITERA), Lampung Selatan, 35365 Indonesia

(b) Research and Innovation Center for Advanced Materials, Institut Teknologi Sumatera (ITERA), Lampung Selatan, 35365 Indonesia

(c) Departemen of Physics Engineering, Faculty of Industrial and Production Technology, Institut Teknologi Sumatera (ITERA), Lampung Selatan, 35365 Indonesia

(d) Microelectronics & Nanotechnology - Shamsuddin Research Centre (MiNT-SRC), Institute of Integrated Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat Johor, Malaysia

(e) Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung, 40132 Indonesia

*Corresponding author e-mail: suratun.nafisah[at]el.itera.ac.id

Abstract

Nowadays, the development of technology to detect pesticide, substances that is used to eradicate invasive plant in agriculture sector by inhibit their growth, still becomes a challenge. The most commonly used pesticide detection technology is chromatography, which has drawbacks such as expensive equipment, a long detection time, and the need for experts to analyze the test results. Hence, it is critical to develop pesticide detection technology alternatives that provide fast, accurate, low-cost, and simple detection methods. On the other side, optical sensor that utilize the optical phenomenon of metal oxide nanomaterial namely zinc oxide (ZnO) can be used to detect hazardous materials. In this study, an optical sensor using ZnO with nanorod shape as a sensing material has been developed for pesticide detection in solution form. This system consist of six components, i.e., light source, fiber optic, chamber, sensing material, spectrometer and computer equipped with AvaSoft software as a data analyzer. Experiments were carried out using pesticide type of diazinon as the target analyte, and deionized water (DIW) as a reference medium. The sensing parameter in this experiment is Absolute Optical Change (AOC) value. The presence of diazinon with a concentration range from 1 ppm to 10,000 ppm has been successfully detected using this sensor with a detection limit of 1 ppm. The result shows that the custom-made solution-based optical sensor system using ZnO as sensing material has the potential to be used as an alternative detection method for organophosphate pesticide.

Keywords: Optical Sensor, Pesticide, Zinc Oxide (ZnO)

Topic: Theory and Design