The fabrication of a flexible and portable sensor based on home-made laser-induced porous graphene electrode for the rapid detection of sulfonamides

• A laser-induced porous graphene as integrated flexible three-electrode was developed; • A hexagonal boron nitride modified porous graphene as working electrode was developed; • Smartphone-based wireless and flexible electrochemical sensor for sulfonamides was developed; • A portable method for outdoor sensing was developed using the home-made integrated flexible three-electrode. A smartphone-based wireless electrochemical sensor for portable and fast detection of sulfonamides (SAs) using home-made flexible integrated three-electrode of laser-induced porous graphene (LIPG) modified with two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride (2D h-BN) as working electrode was developed. The flexible integrated three-electrode of LIPG was prepared by direct laser-writing technique on polyimide (PI) film. The reference electrode was handmade by casting a silver and silver chloride ink on the surface of the LIPG. With excellent electrochemical performance, the pocket, disposable, cost-effective, flexible three-electrode constructed a novel sensing platform to detect sulfamethoxazole (SMZ) at a lower electrochemical oxidation potential of 0.56 V. The developed sensor displayed a good linear range from 0.5 to 362.5 µM, a low limit of detection was 0.011 µM and satisfactory recovery in the range of 97.5% − 101.3% in milk and lake water. This sensor was also applied for the detection of four other SAs (sulfanilamide, sulfapyridine, sulfadimidine, sulfisoxazole). This work will be valuable to the development of a simple, fast sensing platforms for outdoor detection and online monitoring in food safety and environmental safety areas.