Ultrasound-assisted synthesis of two-dimensional layered ytterbium substituted molybdenum diselenide nanosheets with excellent electrocatalytic activity for the electrochemical detection of diphenylamine anti-scald agent in fruit extract.

Metal chalcogenides with large active sites have been received great attention as an excellent catalyst due to their hierarchical structural properties. Here, we have demonstrated the synthesis of ytterbium-doped molybdenum selenide (YbMoSe2 ) in the form of two-dimensional nanosheets by using a simple ultrasonic method. The formation of the crystal phase of prepared YbMoSe2 nanosheets was studied by using the selective characterization techniques. The reported HRTEM confirmed that the introduction of heterogeneous spin of Yb with MoSe2 creates the lattice distortion. Thus, the active sites can be increased by creating the lattice distortion on the basal plane of the metal chalcogenides nanosheets. The band gap study was carried out by using UV-visible spectrometer and demonstrated the decreasing band gap of MoSe2 from 1.30 eV to 1.15 eV due to the Yb substitution/doping. The increasing active sites with decreasing band gap facilitate an excellent electronic conductivity and electrochemical activity. Furthermore, the electrocatalytic activity of YbMoSe2 modified glassy carbon electrode (YbMoSe2 /GCE) toward the sensing of diphenylamine (DPA) anti-scald agent. As expected, YbMoSe2 /GCE showed a high level of electrochemical activity with a low limit of detection (0.004 µM) and excellent sensitivity (11.4 µA µM-1  cm-2 ) towards the detection of DPA. In addition, the superior selectivity, stability, and reproducibility of YbMoSe2 /GCE also were recorded. The beneficial electrochemical activity of YbMoSe2 /GCE offered the more advantages to detection of DPA in the food sample also.