BITS Pilani researchers develop portable device for rapid pesticide detection

Researchers at BITS Pilani Hyderabad have developed PestiSafe, a portable pesticide detection device that rapidly tests food and water samples without laboratory equipment. Costing about Rs 7,000, the platform combines dual optical sensing technologies and smartphone connectivity for accurate field-based monitoring.

Hyderabad: Testing food and water samples for pesticide residues has been made easy and quick. A BITS Pilani Hyderabad campus team has developed a new portable smart sensing platform capable of detecting and distinguishing pesticide residues in food and water samples without relying on bulky laboratory equipment.

Published in the Microchemical Journal, the study introduces PestiSafe, an automated dual-mode optical detection device designed to address one of the major challenges in food safety monitoring: the need for rapid, accurate, and accessible pesticide testing outside centralised laboratories.

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The device combines two independent optical sensing methods within a single handheld platform, enabling reliable on-site testing with built-in cross-verification of results. The fabrication cost is approximately Rs 7,000, enabling affordable field deployment.

Lead principal investigator of the project, Prof Satish Kumar Dubey said: “Our goal was to develop a practical and affordable platform capable of delivering reliable pesticide analysis directly at the point of need, whether in agricultural fields, food markets, or resource-limited regions”.

The platform seeks to bridge this gap by integrating fluorescence and colourimetric detection modules into a single portable device. The developed system demonstrated detection of Malathion down to 0.03 μg/mL (fluorescence) and 0.04 μg/mL (colourimetry), and Imidacloprid down to 0.002 μg/mL (fluorescence) and 0.003 μg/mL (colourimetry). The recovery accuracies ranged from 92 per cent to 107 per cent, they said.

The integrated platform incorporates custom-designed optoelectronic circuitry, signal-conditioning electronics, Bluetooth communication, and a dedicated smartphone application for data visualisation and result interpretation.

Lead researcher KS Deepak said that by integrating two independent optical detection modes into a single device, the team improved confidence in field measurements while maintaining affordability and ease of use.