ZrSe ₂ -magnetic MWCNTs hybrid architecture on screen printed carbon electrode for ultrasensitive electrochemical detection of hydroquinone from real matrices

Hydroquinone (HQ), a phenolic compound widely used in industrial processes such as photographic development, dye manufacturing and cosmetic formulations and recognised as a toxic substance with significant environmental and health implications. So, the current work is designed to synthesise magnetic multiwall carbon nanotubes (MMWCNT) and zirconium di-selenide (ZrSe2) to fabricate screen printed carbon paste electrode (SPCE)-based electrochemical (MMWCNT/ZrSe2/SPCE) for the detection of HQ from real matrices. MMWCNTs and ZrSe2 were synthesised by an in-situ co-precipitation method and hydrothermal route, respectively. The fabricated MMWCNT/ZrSe2 nanocomposite was successfully characterised using various analytical techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), to confirm its crystalline nature, phase purity, functional group information, surface morphology and elemental composition. The successfully synthesised MMWCNTs and ZrSe2 were used fabricate MMWCNT/ZrSe2/SPCE sensor and applied for quantitative detection of HQ. A linear relation was observed between concentrations from 0.01 to 120 μM with R2 of 0.9954. The detection and quantification limits were found 0.0013 μM and 0.0039 μM, respectively. Moreover, the developed method was successfully applied for detection HQ in skin white cream and real water samples with excellent reproducibility.