Ultra-selective determination of carbofuran by electrochemical sensor based on nickel oxide nanoparticles stabilized by ionic liquid

In this work, an electrochemical sensor based on glassy carbon electrode modified with nickel oxide nanoparticles assisted by ionic liquid was developed for selective determination of carbofuran in green vegetables. Controlled synthesis of NiO nanoparticles was carried out by aqueous chemical growth procedure. Synthesized NiO nanoparticles were found to be ostensible candidate for selective determination of carbofuran, which is a highly toxic and hazardous pesticide. The crystallinity and morphology of as-synthesized NiO was confirmed by XRD, EDXS, and SEM. The average size of IL-assisted NiO nanoparticles was calculated to be 22.7 nm. Cyclic voltammetry was employed to compare the electrochemical behavior of NiO nanoparticles-modified glassy carbon electrode using IL with bare glassy carbon electrode by discriminating oxidation peak current response. For the determination of carbofuran, the linear dynamic range for IL-assisted NiO nanoparticles was achieved as 5.0–305 µM with limit of detection 0.5 µM. The developed sensor was successfully applied for selective determination of carbofuran in real samples of green vegetables with the percent recoveries observed from 93.3 to 103.5.