Bismuth sulphide/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites as an electrochemical sensing platform for hexanitrodiphenylamine

•Microwave one-pot tandem synthesis of bismuth sulphide-rGO nanocomposite.•Electrochemical sensing of HNDA was improved in presence of rGO.•Low detection limit of 0.034 µM for sensing of HNDA was achieved. In this work, synthesis of Bi2S3/rGO nanocomposite using bismuth tris-(hexadecyldithiocarbamate) complex and graphene oxide has been reported. Preparation of Bi2S3 and Bi2S3/rGO nanocomposite was done using microwave assisted one-pot tandem reaction. The prepared Bi2S3 and Bi2S3/rGO composites were characterised by physiochemical and microscopic analyses. HNDA, an explosive molecule and identified as a water pollutant has been detected electrochemically using Bi2S3/rGO nanocomposite. Voltammograms of Bi2S3/rGO nanocomposite shows good response towards HNDA with limit of detection of 0.034 µM in a linear range of 82 to 900 nM. The obtained results show the better electrochemical behaviour of Bi2S3/rGO nanocomposite compared to Bi2S3.