Fabrication of europium doped molybdenum diselenide nanoflower based electrochemical sensor for sensitive detection of diphenylamine in apple juice

The graphene or graphite analogous transition metal dichalcogenides have been received as an exciting new type of electrode materials in various electrochemical applications. In this work, we have demonstrated the synthesis of europium doped molybdenum diselenide nanoflower (EuMoSe₂) by using the simple hydrothermal method and characterized by using different analytical techniques. Especially, the XRD and Raman spectroscopy techniques provided the information on the crystal structure of EuMoSe₂. And also, the flower-like nanostructure with protruded few-layer nanosheets of EuMoSe₂ was clearly observed by using SEM and TEM analysis. Further, the EDX and XPS analysis also evidently scrutinized the formation of EuMoSe₂ nanoflower. Furthermore, electrochemical activity of EuMoSe₂ nanoflower towards the detection of diphenylamine (DPA) was studied by using various electrochemical methods such as cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). As the result, the EuMoSe₂ modified glassy carbon electrode (EuMoSe₂/GCE) exhibited an excellent electrocatalytic activity for the detection of DPA with a low detection limit (8.8 nm), which is strongly associated to the calculated low charge transfer resistance (10.23 Ω), excellent active surface area (0.117 cm²), and charge transfer coefficient (0.58). Finally, the real-time application of EuMoSe₂/GCE was also tested by using apple juice.