Nanostructured cadmium sulfide-modified screen-printed carbon electrode based electrochemical sensor for highly efficient quantification of chlorpyrifos pesticide in water and soil samples

•A Chlorpyrifos sensor was developed using hydrothermally synthesized CdS.•The CdS exhibited electrocatalytic activity, enhancing charge mobility as evidenced by the CV.•Screen-printed carbon/CdS electrode exhibits high sensitivity (22.95 × 10−4 mA/nM.cm2).•The Chlorpyrifos sensor achieved a commendably low lower detection limit of 0.0106 nM.•The fabricated sensor is employed in real soil and water samples. Hydrothermally synthesized cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanostructure modified screen printed carbon electrode (SPCE) have been utilized in a Differential Pulse Voltammogram (DPV) sensor for quantifying the chlorpyrifos pesticide in water and soil. The electrocatalytic excellence of Cadmium Sulfide has been harnessed for the detection of chlorpyrifos, exhibiting impressive sensing parameters, including a sensitivity of 22.95 × 10−4 mA/nM·cm−2 for the linearity range of 5–80 nM and 22.60 × 10−5 mA/nM·cm−2 for the linear range of 100–1000 nM. The lower detection limit is 0.0106 nM, with a response time of 25 s. Real sample analysis shows reasonably low percentage deviations between 0.013 % and 5.0 %. The interference study was conducted with possible abundant interferents present in real samples, reaching a maximum percentage interference of up to 14 %. The electrodes were reusable up to 7 times with only an 8 % deviation from the initial current density. Electrochemical measurements of CdS affirm its great potential for developing amperometric sensors for the detection of other hazardous pesticides.