Unveiling the potential of bioactive compounds in vegetable and fruit peels: Exploring sensing characteristics, health benefits, and environmental opportunities

Abstract

Peels from fruits and vegetables, which are typically thought of as agricultural waste, are currently attracting scientific interest as renewable sources of nanomaterials for ecofriendly sensor technologies. These peels, which are rich in bioactive substances like polypHenols, flavonoids, and carotenoids, allow for the environmentally friendly synthesis of nanoparticles with superior functional qualities. The development of peel-derived nanomaterials for a variety of sensor platforms, such as humidity, piezoelectric, gas, strain, pH, electrochemical, colorimetric, and fluorescence-based systems, is highlighted in this review. Emerging WaveFlex optical-fiber plasmonic architectures show how engineered fiber geometries and hybrid coatings, such as peel-based fluorescent carbon dots, can further improve signal amplification, evanescent-field interaction, and multimodal sensing performance in tandem with these material-derived innovations. The sensitivity, response time, and environmental adaptability of these bio-inspired sensors show encouraging results. The use of peel-based nanoparticles in sensor manufacturing is in line with the ideas of the circular economy and provides an affordable, environmentally beneficial substitute for traditional sensing materials. Along with addressing important issues like process standardization and signal stability, the review also looks at important synthesis routes, material characterization, and functional optimization. In the end, this work presents peel-based nanomaterials as a revolutionary strategy for improving biomedical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and food safety.