Nanohybrid of antimonene@Ti₃C₂T_x-based electrochemical aptasensor for lead detection

Lead ions (Pb²⁺), as one of many common heavy metallic environmental pollutants, can cause serious side-effects and result in chronic poisoning to people's health, so it is highly significant to monitor Pb²⁺ efficiently and sensitively. Here, we proposed an antimonene@Ti₃C₂T_x nanohybrid-based electrochemical aptamer sensor (aptasensor) for high sensitive Pb²⁺ determination. The sensing platform of nanohybrid was synthesized by ultrasonication, possessing the advantages of both antimonene and Ti₃C₂T_x, which not only can vastly enlarge the sensing signal of the proposed aptasensor, but also greatly simplified its manufacturing flow, because antimonene can strongly interact with aptamer through noncovalently bound. The surface morphology and microarchitecture of the nanohybrid were perused by several methods such as scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray mapping spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and atomic force microscope (AFM). Under optimal empirical conditions, the proposed aptasensor exhibited a wide linear correlation of the current signals with the logarithm of C_Pb²⁺ (Log C_Pb²⁺) over the span from 1 × 10^-12 to 1 × 10^-7 M and provided a trace discernment limit of 3.3 × 10^-13 M. Moreover, the constructed aptasensor displayed superior repeatability, great consistency, eminent selectivity, and beneficial reproducibility, implying its extreme potential application for water quality control and the environmental monitoring of Pb²⁺.