Rapid determination of methyl parathion in vegetables using electrochemical sensor fabricated from biomass-derived and β-cyclodextrin functionalized porous carbon spheres

Porous carbon spheres (PCS) derived from expired sugarcane juice (SJ) and modified with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) were used for the fabrication of SJPCS@β-CD/GCE sensor with glassy carbon electrode (GCE) to detect methyl parathion (MP). SJPCS with interconnected porous structure exhibits excellent electrical conductivity, strong adsorption property, and high specific surface area, while β-CD with molecular recognition property achieves the uniform dispersion of SJPCS and promotes the recognition and adsorption of MP molecules. Thanks to the synergistic combination of SJPCS and β-CD, the SJPCS@β-CD/GCE sensor exhibited respectable MP determination performance with low limit of detection of 5.87 nM in the MP concentration range of 0.01-10 µM. For the MP detection in vegetables (onion, cabbage, spinach), the fabricated sensor showed good practicability with adequate relative standard deviation of 1.06% to 4.25% and satisfactory recoveries of 96.5 to 100.5%. A promising strategy for the rapid determination of methyl parathion in food products was developed.