A NOVEL ELECTROCHEMICAL BIOSENSOR BASED ON 2D/2D g-C3N4/MXene NANOHYBRID FOR TRICHLORFON DETECTION

Abstract

Organophosphate pesticides have been widely used to preserve agricultural produce from pest damage during growth and to prevent subsequent quality degradation. However, while doing this, the pesticides and their decomposition products permeate through soil and water, leading to their accumulation in food items. They exhibit significant specificity for the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and can produce irreversible damage to the nervous system. In order to deal with this difficulty, we suggest developing an electrochemical biosensor based on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) for the detection of Organophosphate pesticide, Trichlorfon (TF), by employing (g-C3N4/MXene) graphitic carbon nitride and MXene-based nanocomposite. The electrostatic interactions of g-C3N4/MXene nanocomposite enhance electron migration throughout the electrode surface, assisting in the immobilization of the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzyme with glutaraldehyde as a crosslinking agent, which inhibits the enzyme from leaching out of the electrode surface. The prepared biosensor (AChE/g-C3N4/MXene/ITO) for trichlorfon demonstrates an ultrasensitive response within the linear range 0.1 pM- 1 μM, featuring a low detection limit (LOD) of 0.16 pM. The constructed biosensor exhibited robust stability, anti-interference ability, satisfactory reproducibility, and enhanced sensitivity (7.79 μA (pM)-1 cm-2), which allowed the determination of trichlorfon in three real samples: carrot, guava, and fenugreek.