Facile Tantalum Doped Tungsten Oxide Intercalated Carbon Sensor for Surfactant Mediated Rapid Detection of Pesticides: Diuron and Dichlone

The utilization of doped WO3nanostructures as an active component in electrochemical sensors is a promising strategy for delivering highly sensitive and stable detection schemes. In this work, a nanostructured WO3possessing a mixture of nanoparticle and one-dimensional (1-D) architecture, doped with Ta, was synthesized via hydrothermal reaction for electrochemical sensor application. Substituting Ta in W lattice positions yields polymorphic crystals with n-type characteristics. An optimized Ta content of 2.02 at. % in WO3was utilized for detailed electrochemical analysis of diuron (DIU) and dichlone (DCN). An electrochemical sensor was fabricated by packing the mechanically intercalated Ta-WO3/carbon matrix into a Teflon tube. The developed Ta-WO3/CPE could be employed for the selective and sensitive electrocatalytic determination of DIU and DCN in the presence of the cationic surfactant, viz., CTAB. The CTAB-mediated Ta-WO3/CPE exhibited good linearity with remarkable detection limits of 5.2 and 0.4 nM for DIU and DCN, respectively. The sensor displayed good sensitivity of 4.8 (for DIU) and 38.7 μA·μM–1·cm–2(for DCN) with selectivity, demonstrating real-time efficiency for DIU and DCN determination in spiked soil and water samples with satisfactory results.