Abstract: In recent years, the widespread use of pesticides has caused increasingly serious food safety problems and agricultural ecological environmental problems throughout the world. The traditional methods for the detection of pesticide residues generally require large expensive instruments and professionals, which greatly limits their application in resource-limited areas. Therefore, it is highly important to develop user-friendly, rapid and sensitive methods for pesticide residue detection. One such method is the nanomaterial-based optical aptasensor, which is generally recognized as a powerful tool for the detection of pesticide residues. In this review, the latest progress in the application of nanomaterial-based optical aptasensors for the detection of pesticide residues is presented and the major challenges in this field are summarized. Finally, an outlook on future development is proposed with the aim of stimulating further research into developing novel biosensors for pesticide residue detection.

Key words: nanomaterials; aptamer; optical sensors; pesticide residues; detection