Rational design of Nd2O3 decorated functionalized carbon nanofiber composite for selective electrochemical detection of carbendazim fungicides in vegetables, water, and soil samples

Nanoengineered Electrochemical Sensor for Sensitive Detection of Carbendazim in Environmental Waters Using Er3NbO7/f-CNF Nanocomposite

Water contamination by agricultural chemicals is a pressing environmental issue today. Carbendazim (CBZ), a potent fungicide with broad-spectrum antifungal properties and significant toxicity, poses substantial risks to ecosystems and human health. This study introduces an advanced electrochemical sensor by modifying screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) with a nanocomposite of erbium niobate (Er3NbO7) and functionalized carbon nanofibers (f-CNF). The Er3NbO7/f-CNF nanocomposite enhances electrochemical performance through its high surface area, excellent electrical conductivity, and catalytic activity. This synergy results in exceptional attributes such as a low detection limit of 6.0 nmolL-1, low quantification limit of 19.98 nmolL-1, sensitivity of 3.522 μA.μ(molL-1)-1.cm-2, and precision of 0.05%. The sensor demonstrates a wide linear range from 0.2 to 222 μmolL-1, combined with high selectivity and robust stability, making it suitable for precise CBZ detection. Successful deployment in environmental monitoring underscores its versatility and effectiveness in safeguarding human health and ecological balance, establishing it as a pivotal tool in environmental protection efforts.

Electroanalytical overview: the sensing of carbendazim

Carbendazim is a broad-spectrum systemic fungicide that is used to control various fungal diseases in agriculture, horticulture, and forestry. Carbendazim is also used in post-harvest applications to prevent fungal growth on fruits and vegetables during storage and transportation. Carbendazim is regulated in many countries and banned in others, thus, there is a need for the sensing of carbendazim to ensure that high levels are avoided which can result in potential health risks. One approach is the use of electroanalytical sensors which present a rapid, but highly selective and sensitive output, whilst being economical and providing portable sensing platforms to support on-site analysis. In this minireview, we report on the electroanalytical sensing of carbendazim overviewing recent advances, helping to elucidate the electrochemical mechanism and provide conclusions and future perspectives of this field.

Simple pyrolysis of graphene-wrapped PtNi nanoparticles supported on hierarchically N-doped porous carbon for sensitive detection of carbendazim

A novel electrochemical sensor was established based on graphene-wrapped PtNi nanoparticles supported on three-dimensional (3D) N-doped porous carbon (G-PtNi/3D-NPC) for the highly sensitive and selective detection of carbendazim (CBZ). In this sensing system, the encapsulation of PtNi nanoparticles (NPs) by graphene can effectively prevent the aggregation tendency and enhance the structural stability. The hierarchically porous nanostructures have a large specific surface area to expose a large number of active sites and the resulting enhanced electrical conductivity ultimate improves the electrocatalytic activity towards CBZ. Under the optimal conditions, the prepared sensor showed excellent electrochemical responses for the determination of CBZ with a linear range of 0.5-30 μM and lower limit of detection (LOD) of 0.04 μM (S/N = 3). It also shows excellent anti-interference ability at a working potential of 0.74 V. The feasibility of the senor is demonstrated for its practical assays in diluted peach and vegetable samples with acceptable recovery (95.8-97.3 %, peach; 97.2-97.6 %, vegetable) and a relative standard deviation (RSD) below 2.3%.