Highly sensitive electrochemical detection of paraoxon ethyl in water and fruit samples based on defect-engineered graphene nanoribbons modified electrode

In this work, defect-engineered graphene nanoribbon (DGNR) was prepared and used for the first time as a novel electrode material for the sensitive detection of parathion methyl (MP). The morphology, structure and component of DGNR were investigated via scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectra; and the detection conditions for MP were optimized. Owing to the large surface area, superior conductivity, rich edge defects and active sites, DGNR modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) shows excellent sensing performances for MP. Under optimized conditions, a considerable low detection limit of 4.3 nM and wide linearity from 0.01 to 25.0 μM were obtained. In addition, the applications of the proposed DGNR/GCE in water and fruit samples possess satisfactory recoveries from 95.7 to 106.4%. This study offers a promising application for DGNR-based materials in developing simple, low cost and highly sensitive sensing protocol for MP and other pesticides. Graphical abstract