Hybridized 1D-2D MnMoO4-MXene nanocomposites as high-performing electrochemical sensing platform for the sensitive detection of dihydroxybenzene isomers in wastewater samples

Abstract

Hydroquinone (HQ) and catechol (CC) are the two major dihydroxybenzene isomers, are considered one of the toxic pollutants in wastewater, which often coexisted and impede each other during sample identification. For practical analysis and simultaneous detection of HQ and CC in wastewater, we fabricate a hybrid electrochemical sensor with electrospun one-dimensional (1D) MnMoO₄ nanofibers coupled with a few-layered exfoliated two-dimensional (2D) MXene. The facilitated abundant defective edges of 1D MnMoO₄ and 2D MXene nanoarchitecture accelerated the effect of synergistic signal amplification and exhibited high electrocatalytic activity towards the oxidation of hydroquinone and catechol. MnMoO₄-MXene-GCE showed oxidation potentials of 0.102 V and 0.203 V for hydroquinone and catechol, respectively. It revealed the distinguished and simultaneous detection range of 0.101 V with a strong anodic peak current. Noteworthily, the proposed 1D-2D hybridized MnMoO₄-MXene-GCE sensor exhibited a wide linear response from 5 nM to 65 nM for hydroquinone and catechol. Moreover, it showed a low detection limit of 0.26 nM and 0.30 nM for HQ and CC with high stability, respectively. The feasible 1D-2D MnMoO₄-MXene nanocomposite-based biosensor effectively detected hydroquinone and catechol in hazardous water pollutants using the differential pulse voltammetric technique with recovery values.

Keywords: Differential pulse voltammetry; Electrochemical sensor; Electrospun nanofibers; Hazardous water pollutants; Hydroquinone and catechol; MXene.