Electrochemical sensing base for hazardous herbicide aclonifen using gadolinium niobate (GdNbO4) nanoparticles-actual river water and soil sample analysis.

Abstract The present work scrutinized the voltammetric analysis of hazardous herbicide aclonifen (ACF) in actual soil and river water samples utilizing the electrochemical method. The electrochemical sensing device was fabricated for the determination of ACF using gadolinium niobate (GdNbO4) nanoparticles modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE). The novel GdNbO4 sensing material was prepared via a simple co-precipitation method. Several characterization techniques (TEM, EDS, XRD, XPS, and BET) were utilized to analyze the structural features of the GdNbO4. The enhanced electrochemical behavior of GdNbO4 modified GCE towards ACF was observed compared to bare GCE. The cyclic voltammetry response revealed that the prepared sensor shows the lower negative potential with a dramatic increase in the peak current of ACF compared to bare GCE. In the differential pulse voltammetry, the limit of detection (1.15 nM) and sensitivity (23 μA μM−1 cm−2) of the ACF on the GdNbO4 modified GCE was comparatively superior to the formerly proposed ACF based sensor. This sensor reveals good selectivity, repeatability, reproducibility, and long-term stability. The reliability of the sensor exhibits satisfactory recovery results for ACF detection in river water and soil samples.