Gadolinium sesquisulfide anchored N-doped reduced graphene oxide for sensitive detection and degradation of carbendazim

Abstract

Agriculture is having a major role in solving issues associated with food shortages across the globe. Carbendazim (CZM) is one of the fungicides which is commonly used in agriculture to grow crops in large quantities and fast. Monitoring CZM content is in high demand for environmental remediation. The present work deals with the synthesis of gadolinium sesquisulfide anchored Nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (Gd2S3/NRGO) through a simple microwave-assisted method. X-ray diffraction and morphological studies confirm the formation of the nanocomposite. Gd2S3/NRGO showed enhanced activity both in electrochemical detection and light-driven degradation of CZM compared to Gd2S3 and NRGO. Gd2S3/NRGO modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) exhibit a wide linear range of 0.01–450 μM CZM with 0.009 μM LOD using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Gd2S3/NRGO@GCE showed good selectivity, stability, and recovery (98.13–99.10%) in the river water sample. In addition, Gd2S3/NRGO has been explored towards the visible-light-induced degradation of CZM. The reactions conditions were optimized to achieve maximum efficiency. 94% of CZM was degraded within 90 min in presence of Gd2S3/NRGO. Mechanism of electrochemical redox reaction and degradation of CZM in presence of Gd2S3/NRGO has been explored to the maximum extent possible. Degradation intermediates were identified using LC-MS.