Rapid and Sensitive Detection of Isoproturon Via an Electrochemical Sensor Based on Highly Water-Dispersed Carbon Hybrid Material

Abstract

Isoproturon (ISO), an herbicide belonging to the phenyl urea family, is extensively used in modern agriculture to guarantee a bumper harvest. However, it has been evidenced that the ISO has heavy toxicity to the liver system and appears to be a tumor promoter. It is therefore urgent to develop sensitive and selective methods to screen its presence in food resources to meet the ever-increasing pollution restrictions. In this work, an electrochemical sensor based on graphene oxide–modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes hybrid material was firstly developed for the rapid and sensitive detection of ISO via square wave voltammetry (SWV). Under optimized experimental conditions, the sensor exhibits a relatively wide linear range from 0.30 to 15.0 μmol L−1, a low limit of detection (LOD) of 0.10 μmol L−1, as well as good repeatability, high reproducibility, excellent selectivity, and long-term stability. The sensor has also been successfully employed in various real samples such as rice field water, tomato, and lettuce analyses. The obtained recoveries are in the range of 97.33–105.0% with low relative standard deviation (less than 2.5%), which is very close to the results of the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), showing the proposed electrochemical sensor has great potential in practical applications.