Lab-on-fruit skin and lab-on-leaf towards recognition of trifluralin using Ag-citrate/GQDs nanocomposite stabilized on the flexible substrate: A new platform for the electroanalysis of herbicides using direct writing of nano-inks and pen-on paper technology

Trifluralin is herbicide of the dinitroanilines group in which NO(2) molecules are attached to the benzene ring at diverse positions. Trifluralin affects endocrine function and is listed as an endocrine disrupter in the European Union list. Therefore, its determination is so important in health science. In this study, an easy, sensitive and environmentally friendly method has been developed for determination of trifluralin based on its electrochemical oxidation on a three-electrode system designed on the surface of agricultural products using Ag-citrate/GQDs (graphene quantum dots) nano-ink. The sensor was prepared by direct writing on the surface of the samples. The designed electrodes were dried after 24 h at room temperature and used for trifluralin detection. Under optimized experimental conditions, the Ag-citrate/GQDs nano-ink based sensor was exhibited good sensitivity and specificity for trifluralin detection. The obtained linear range using the cyclic voltammetric (CV) technique is between 0.008 to 1 mM and low limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 0.008 mM. Also, the obtained linear range using differential pulse voltammetric (DPV) and square wave voltammetric (SWV) techniques is 0.005–0.04 mM with LLOQ of 0.005 mM. For further validation of the applicability of the proposed method, it was also used for detection of trifluralin on the surface of apple skin.