Rational effect of CuSe2 phase with octadecyl amine modified reduced graphene composite for dual-mode sensing of environmental hazardous anthelminthic drug in aquatic and biological samples

The increasing usage of antihelminthic drug mebendazole (MEB) in humans and livestock poses serious threat and is considered a significant environmental pollutant. Hence, monitoring the MEB residues in environmental samples, and human fluids is essential to decrease the ecological risk and improve the health of humans. In this work, copper selenide (CuSe2) nano/microspheres were hydrothermally synthesized and ultrasonically treated with rGO surface modified with ODA alkyl amine (rGO-ODA). The optical, structural, morphological, and functional analysis were performed which revealed the CuSe2 in marcasite phase, orthorhombic pattern with Pnnm space group, and substantial composite formation. The morphological studies revealed sphere structure of the CuSe2 and wrinkled sheets of rGO-ODA. A sensor that detects MEB using the cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and UV-Vis absorbance techniques was developed. For DPV analysis, the sensor exhibited a very low value for limit of detection 13.55 nM and a sensitivity of 9.4871 μA M−1cm−2. For UV-Vis, the sensor demonstrated a very low limit of detection 22.3 nM. The use of this sensor was validated in real-time analysis with aquatic and biological real samples. The results suggested > 90% of analyte recovery and enhanced efficiency for MEB detection with a potential for commercialization in future.