Pd@MWCNTs/GCE based voltammetric sensor for butachlor herbicide detection in soil samples

Butachlor is a herbicide that belongs to the acetanilide family. It is widely used as a granule-based post-emergence herbicide on rice in India. As a result of the ongoing usage of these synthetic substances, soil fertility and soil organisms are declining. Differential pulse voltammetry was used to determine butachlor herbicide in soil samples with a modified glassy carbon electrode voltammetric sensor with palladium-supported multiwalled carbon nanotubes (Pd@MWCNTs). Scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction spectroscopy were used to investigate the morphology of Pd@MWCNTs, while cyclic and differential pulse techniques were used to investigate the voltammetric properties. The butachlor herbicide under voltammetric investigation involves irreversible, two-electron reduction based on the protonation of the carbonyl group (>C=O). The voltammetric method was developed for the determination of butachlor in phosphate buffer solution at pH 6.0 as a supporting electrolyte. A good linear response to butachlor in the concentration ranging from 0.10 μg⸳mL−1 to 32.0 μg⸳mL−1 was observed, and a limit of detection of 0.044 μg⸳mL−1 was obtained with the calculation based on signal/noise=3. The suggested method was efficaciously applied for the detection of butachlor in soil samples.