Ultrasensitive electrochemical detection of glyphosate using crumpled graphene/copper oxide nanocomposite

Glyphosate (Glyp) is an herbicide mainly employed worldwide. This has generated significant concern regarding the toxicological impacts and risks to humans, primarily water contamination. Therefore, the monitoring of glyphosate in water is demanding. Herein, we synthesized in one step crumpled graphene fully decorated with copper oxide nanoparticles (CG/CuO) for ultrasensitive electrochemical detections of glyphosate in water. The linear range was obtained by differential pulse voltammetry and performed in picomolar (5.00 – 25.00 ×10-12 M), demonstrating exceptional linearity, with limits of detection - LD (0.30 ×10-12 M) and quantification - LQ (0.90 ×10-12 M). Furthermore, the successful recovery analysis of enriched glyphosate from the distilled-deionized, river, groundwater, and untreated tap water, with great accuracy and precision achieved at low concentrations, demonstrated the advantages of our CG/CuO electrochemical sensor. This one-step strategy to prepare crumpled graphene-based copper composites is a promising method for future in-loco detection of Glyp.