Electrochemical determination of benomyl using MWCNTs interspersed graphdiyne as enhanced electrocatalyst

Graphdiyne (GDY) has attracted a lot of interest in electrochemical sensing application with the advantages of a large conjugation system, porous structure, and high structure defects. Herein, to further improve the sensing effect of GDY, conductive MWCNTs were chosen as the signal accelerator. To get a stable composite material, polydopamine (PDA) was employed as connecting bridge between GDY and MWCNTs-NH 2 , where DA was firstly polymerized onto GDY, followed by covalently linking MWCNTs-NH 2 with PDA through Michael-type reaction. The formed GDY@PDA/MWCNTs-NH 2 composite was then explored as an electrochemical sensor for benomyl (Ben) determination. GDY assists the adsorption and accumulation of Ben molecules to the sensing surface, while MWCNTs-NH 2 can enhance the electrical conductivity and electrocatalytic activity, all of which contributing to the significantly improved performance. The proposed sensor displays an obvious oxidation peak at 0.72 V (vs. Hg|Hg 2 Cl 2 ) and reveals a wide linear range from 0.007 to 10.0 µM and a low limit of detection (LOD) of 1.8 nM ( S / N  = 3) toward Ben detection. In addition, the sensor shows high stability, repeatability, reproducibility, and selectivity. The feasibility of this sensor was demonstrated by detecting Ben in apple and cucumber samples with a recovery of 94–106% and relative standard deviations (RSDs) less than 2.3% ( n  = 5). Graphical Abstract A sensitive electrochemical sensing platform was reported for benomyl (Ben) determination based on a highly stable GDY@PDA/MWCNTs-NH 2 composite.