Development of NiO/borophene hybrid platform for non-enzymatic electrochemical sensing of malathion

Malathion (MAL), a widely used organophosphate pesticide effecting environment and causes serious health hazards. Herewith, this work introduces a highly sensitive electrochemical sensor for the sensitive detection of MAL in various environmental samples by utilizing NiO/borophene nanomaterial. The sensor was fabricated via solvothermal method and was characterized to confirm its structural and electrochemical properties. The sensing mechanism is based on the coordination between the Ni 2 + sites with the sulfur-containing thiophosphoryl (P = S) group of MAL, which blocks the electroactive sites and hinders the conversion of redox Ni 2+ /Ni 3+ species, resulting in concentration-dependent decrease in the current response. The sensor demonstrated exceptional linear detection range from 20 80 pM, 20 – 100 pM, and 20 – 90 pM with a limit of detection (LOD) of 20.8 pM, 6.8 pM, and 3.25 pM using Linear Sweep Voltammetry (LSV), Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), and Differential Pulse Voltammetry (DPV), respectively. Furthermore, the sensor demonstrated remarkable repeatability, reproducibility, interference, and long-term stability performance in the presence of MAL. Its practical applicability was validated by good recovery percentage of 87.0% – 115.7% in real-world tap water, river water, tomato, and apple promising its reliability for environmental monitoring and human health protection.