Graphene modified screen printed immunosensor for highly sensitive detection of parathion

• A graphene based impedimetric immunosensor was developed.
• This sensor was employed for highly sensitive and specific detection of parathion.
• Graphene was functionalized with the –NH2 groups of 2-ABA for parathion sensing.
• This sensor did impedimetric detection of parathion in a dynamic range of 0.1–1000 ng/L.

Due to indiscriminate use of pesticides, there is a growing need to develop sensors that can sensitively detect the trace amount of pesticides in food and water samples. Parathion, identified as an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, had been one of the most widely used pesticides throughout the world. Symptoms of its poisoning are found to be diverse enough to include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle cramping/twitching, and shortness of breath. In this work, a graphene based impedimetric immunosensor has been fabricated and employed for highly sensitive and specific detection of parathion. The fabrication proceeded through the modification of the screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPE) with graphene sheets, followed by their functionalization with 2-aminobenzyl amine (2-ABA) via an electrochemical reaction. These amine functionalized graphene electrodes were then bio-interfaced with the anti-parathion antibodies. In the impedimetric mode, this biosensor detected parathion in a broad linear range, i.e. 0.1–1000 ng/L with a very low limit of detection (52 pg/L). It also showed high selectivity towards parathion in the presence of malathion, paraoxon, and fenitrothion. The viability of this biosensor was demonstrated by detecting parathion in real samples (e.g., tomato and carrot) and through cross-calibration against HPLC.