Electrochemical Organophosphorus Pesticide Detection Using Nanostructured Gold-Modified Electrodes

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2022-12, Vol.22 (24), p.9938
• Main Authors: Chang, Han-Wei, Chen, Chien-Lin, Chen, Yan-Hua, Chang, Yu-Ming, Liu, Feng-Jiin, Tsai, Yu-Chen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: agricultural products; Agrochemicals; Chromatography; Electric properties; electrocatalytic activity; Electrochemical analysis; Electrochemical Techniques - methods; Electrodes; Electron transfer; Food; Food safety; Gas chromatography; Gold; Gold - chemistry; Limit of Detection; Mass spectrometry; Medical care, Cost of; Metal Nanoparticles - chemistry; Methods; Methyl parathion; Methyl Parathion - analysis; Nanocomposites - chemistry; nanostructured gold; Organophosphorus Compounds - analysis; Pesticide Residues - analysis; Pesticides; Pesticides - analysis; Photoelectrons; Residues; Safety and security measures; Scientific imaging; Selectivity; Sodium; Structural analysis; Sustainable agriculture; Voltammetry; X ray photoelectron spectroscopy
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s22249938

In this study, nanostructured gold was successfully prepared on a bare Au electrode using the electrochemical deposition method. Nanostructured gold provided more exposed active sites to facilitate the ion and electron transfer during the electrocatalytic reaction of organophosphorus pesticide (methyl parathion). The morphological and structural characterization of nanostructured gold was conducted using field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), which was further carried out to evaluate the electrocatalytic activity towards methyl parathion sensing. The electrochemical performance of nanostructured gold was investigated by electrochemical measurements (cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV)). The proposed nanostructured gold-modified electrode exhibited prominent electrochemical methyl parathion sensing performance (including two linear concentration ranges from 0.01 to 0.5 ppm (R = 0.993) and from 0.5 to 4 ppm (R = 0.996), limit of detection of 5.9 ppb, excellent selectivity and stability), and excellent capability in determination of pesticide residue in real fruit and vegetable samples (bok choy and strawberry). The study demonstrated that the presented approach to fabricate a nanostructured gold-modified electrode could be practically applied to detect pesticide residue in agricultural products via integrating the electrochemical and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS-MS) analysis.