Simple high-temperature annealing affords commercial carbon cloth with enhanced electrochemical performance for highly sensitive detection of imidacloprid.

Imidacloprid (IDP) residue in modern agricultural production seriously endangers human health and environmental safety. The establishment of a rapid and efficient method for the detection of IDP residue can effectively prevent its harm to human health. Herein, we demonstrate the carbon cloth (CC) prepared by a high-temperature annealing strategy possesses enhanced electrochemical performance, which could be directly used in electrochemical IDP sensing. Annealed carbon cloth (ACC) is endowed with higher defects, rougher surfaces, more functional groups, more hydrophilic surface, and increased ion-accessible surface area. Furthermore, the ACC electrode shows superior electrocatalytic reduction activity towards IDP, possessing a wide linear range of 5-100 μM, a low detection limit of 0.04 μM, and high sensitivity of 35.58 μA mM cm. Meanwhile, this sensor can be applied for sensing IDP in grapes and apples with a good recovery of 96.8-104.1%. Compared with other modified electrodes, the ACC electrode has the advantages of no binder, no complicated modification, excellent detection effect, low cost, and easy large-scale production. Consequently, this work designs a self-supporting metal-free electrode with high electrochemical performance, providing a new idea for the development of environmentally friendly IDP sensors.