Effective electrochemical sensor by using silver doped TiO₂ nanoparticles modified glassy carbon electrode for determination of dicapthon pesticide in agricultural food

The goal of this study was to synthesize the modified glassy carbon electrode with silver-doped TiO₂ nanoparticles (Ag-TiO₂/GCE) by the electrodeposition method, and to investigate the electrochemical behavior of this modified electrode as a dicapthon pesticide sensor in agricultural food. Studies using SEM, XPS, XRD, and Raman spectroscopy indicated successful electrodeposition of TiO₂ nanoparticles on the electrode surface, as well as the introduction of Ag as a dopant in the TiO₂ structure. The voltammetric analysis revealed high sensitivity and outstanding electrocatalytic activity towards dicapthon electrochemical reactions; the electrode demonstrated a linear correlation between the current and dicapthon concentration in the range of 1 to 165 µg/mL, with a sensitivity of 0.67654 µA/µg. mL^− 1 and a detection limit of 0.005 µg/mL. Ag’s synergistic effect on the TiO₂ structure improves electron transport, electrocatalytic activity, and selectivity of the dicapthon sensor. Using prepared cabbage samples, the electrode’s practicality was assessed. The results demonstrated satisfactory recoveries with a range of 96.00–98.42% and a relative standard deviation of 3.19–4.52%. These findings suggested that accurate dicapthon analysis in real-world samples can be accomplished using Ag-TiO₂/GCE.