Microfluidic synthesis of highly disordered lanthanum tellurate for the selective electrochemical detection of imidacloprid

Abstract

The increasing demand for pollutant monitoring devices has driven advances in electrochemical (EC) sensors. However, the shortage of efficient sensing electrodes and the lack of optimal preparation conditions both limit their growth. Therefore, synthesis protocols for constructing product-specific EC sensors are required. In this study, we developed a platinized glass microfluidic chip (pGMC) to produce tailored lanthanum tellurate (LTO) for the reliable detection of imidacloprid (IMD). The resulting LTO was highly pure and exhibited an amorphous structure that optimized its performance, and it was easily used to fabricate a disposable sensing electrode. This electrode performed well in outdoor environmental samples and demonstrated improved IMD detection capabilities, with over 95 % selectivity. The achieved linear dynamic range (0.01 to 70 µg/g) and detection limit (0.003 µg/g) are well suited to practical applications. We also explicitly investigated the design of the pGMC and the selective EC sensing mechanism with supporting evidence. Overall, this study demonstrates the feasibility of using pGMC to produce customized LTO for onsite IMD detection, which can also be applied to the design of other customized nanomaterials.