Square-wave voltammetric determination of fungicide fenfuram in real samples on bare boron-doped diamond electrode, and its corrosion properties on stainless steels used to produce agricultural tools

•A bare boron-doped diamond electrode was first used to determine fenfuram.•A sensitive voltammetric procedure for the determination of fenfuram was developed.•The sensor showed high sensitivity, selectivity, and wide linear range.•The procedure was successfully applied to detect fenfuram in real samples.•The effect of fenfuram on the uniform and pitting corrosion of steel was stated.

A simple, selective, and sensitive electroanalytical method for the determination of a novel fungicide, fenfuram (Fnf), on a bare boron-doped diamond electrode (BDDE) using square-wave voltammetry (SWV) was developed. For the first time, the electrochemical oxidation of Fnf at BDDE at about 1.5 V vs. Ag/AgCl reference electrode in 0.35 mol L−1 sulfuric acid was investigated. To select the optimum experimental conditions, the effects of the supporting electrolyte, pH, frequency, amplitude, and step potential were studied. The developed method allowed the determination of Fnf in the concentration range of 2.4 × 10−5 to 2.6 × 10−4 mol L−1 (LOD = 6.3 × 10−6 mol L−1, LOQ = 2.1 × 10−5 mol L−1). The validation of the method was carried out. The proposed procedure was successfully applied to determine Fnf in the spiked natural water samples collected from Polish rivers and in the spiked triticale seed samples by the standard addition method. To understand the Fnf electrode mechanism, the cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique was applied. The oxidation mechanism was also confirmed using mass spectrometry with the electrospray ionization (ESI-MS) technique. Using electrochemical techniques, the effect of Fnf on the corrosion properties of stainless steel which is used to produce agricultural tools was studied.

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