Template-assisted synthesis of Co1Zn0.5–P/CoO/ZnO core-shell heterostructure for the electrochemical detection of carbofuran and diuron

Currently, numerous lethal hazardous substances such as insecticides, and pesticides exist in the water bodies, food products causing acute health effects in humans and animals. It is crucial to monitor & control the level of toxicity in the water bodies, and daily food cycle with rapid and cost-effective detection techniques. Therefore, we have chosen the electrochemical sensing technique for the individual & simultaneous determination of carbofuran (CF) and diuron (DU) in environmental water and food samples. Herein, the core–shell structured Co1Zn0.5-P/CoO/ZnO hybrid was prepared as a dynamic electrocatalyst for the sensing of CF and DU. The microstructural features of the Co1Zn0.5-P/CoO/ZnO hybrid having a large surface area offers more electrocatalytic sites for electrochemical performances. Remarkably, the fabricated Co1Zn0.5-P/CoO/ZnO/GCE has enhanced active sites arising by the heterostructure results in an excellent detection limit of 1.94 nM for CF and a 4.04 nM for DU with linear concentrations of 2–429 µM (CF) and 2–149 µM (DU) for individual detection. Besides, the achieved LODs were 2.98 and 2.52 nM for simultaneous sensing of CF and DU with the linearity of 2–185 µM. The Co1Zn0.5-P/CoO/ZnO/GCE demonstrated with good storage stability, reproducibility, and excellent selectivity for CF and DU along with the potential interfering species. The environmental and food samples were analyzed to determine the levels of CF and DU, the recovery results were found to be the suitable candidate for the real-time sensing performances.