Electrochemical biosensor based on cellulose nanofibers/graphene oxide and acetylcholinesterase for the detection of chlorpyrifos pesticide in water and fruit juice

In this work, cellulose nanofibers and graphene oxide are used to fabricate a simple and reliable electrochemical biosensor, based on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) for the detection of highly dangerous organophosphates (OPs), utilizing chlorpyrifos as a representative sample. AChE is an enzyme that is essential for neurotransmission and catalyzes the conversion of acetylcholine (ATCh) into thiocholine and acetic acid. The pesticide used in this work, chlorpyrifos, inhibits the catalytic activity of AChE on ATCh, and this inhibition can be measured using square wave voltammetry (SWV). Utilizing a process of surface modification, layers of cellulose nanofibers, graphene oxide, a chitosan-graphene oxide composite, and acetylcholinesterase (AChE/CS-GO/GO/CNFs) were immobilized on a screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE). The modified SPCE working electrode was characterized using scanning electron microscopy and graphene oxide trapped in the cellulose nanofibers was found to increase the sensitivity of the biosensor. The modified biosensor demonstrated good performance for detection of chlorpyrifos over a linear range of 25–1000 nM under optimum conditions, and the limits of detection and quantification were 2.2 nM and 73 nM, respectively. Our sophisticated technique might offer a more precise, straightforward, quick, and environmentally friendly way to assess chlorpyrifos contamination in water and juice samples.