Review—Electrochemical Synthesis of 2D Layered Materials and Their Potential Application in Pesticide Detection

Two dimensional (2D) layered materials are receiving great attention due to various chemical functionality and anisotropic properties which are related to the crystalline arrangement of atoms. Their biocompatibility along with their structural, electrical and mechanical properties created interest in various fields of science and technology. The materials are flexible, transparent, light weight and have high stability. 2D layered materials are highly electrically and thermally conductive in nature. Additionally, phase boundaries and dynamic behavior can be observed in the same materials. It was expected that these layered 2D materials can be used as electrocatalyst to study their interactions with various molecules by electrochemical methods. The 2D materials based electrode have shown promising electro-catalytic activity, higher sensitivity, with selectivity, more stability and biocompatibility when used in chemical and biosensor applications. Interestingly, various kind of layered 2D materials can be easily synthesized without any sophisticated instruments. In this review, we have discussed about unique features of layered materials and various electrochemical exfoliation methods reported to prepare 2D layered materials (For example; hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), molybdenum diselenide (MoSe2), tungsten dsulfide (WS2) and tungsten diselenide (WSe2)) with fewer defects at a relatively low cost. In addition, the use of 2D layered materials for electrochemical sensor fabrication and detection of pesticides were highlighted with their applications in real-world samples. Since, pesticides are highly toxic even at very low concentrations, it is very important to identify and detect their concentration level in fruits, vegetables and food to ensure human health and safety. For this purpose, 2D layered materials based electrochemical sensors have been demonstrated as a promising alternative method. The keep increasing demand for wearable/flexible sensor may utilize the simple electrochemical synthetic methods and electrode modification strategies to prepare electrochemical transducers for on-site pesticides detection in food samples with relatively low-cost.