Coherent design of palladium nanostructures adorned on the boron nitride heterojunctions for the unparalleled electrochemical determination of fatal organophosphorus pesticides

[Display omitted] •We fabricated a novel palladium nanoparticles adorned on the boron nitride (Pd NPs/BN) heterojunction via simple sonochemical approach.•As prepared, Pd NPs/BN was successfully applied for the electrochemical detection of paraoxon ethyl (PXL) for the first time.•The Pd NPs/BN modified electrode exhibits wide linear range and low limit of detection of about 0.01-610.5 μM and 0.003 μM towards PXL detection, respectively.•The real sample analysis reveals the practical applicability of Pd NPs/BN modified electrode for sensing of PXL in water samples. The rational heterojunction architecture has shown the extensive application in electrochemical sensors due to their unique and attractive properties. Drawing inspiration from the above considerations, we develop a simple strategy for construction of palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs) adorned on the boron nitride (BN) heterojunction (HJ) for electrochemical detection of paraoxon ethyl (PXL). We have systematically examined the structural, spectroscopic and electrocatalytic properties of Pd NPs/BN HJ. Benefitting from the unique structural design, the Pd NPs/BN HJ modified electrode significantly enhance the electron transfer and electrochemical activity towards PXL detection. It is found that the Pd NPs/BN HJ electrocatalyst exhibited an outstanding performance for PXL detection due to the synergetic effect, large surface area, high electrical conductivity and numerous active sites. The fabricated Pd NPs/BN HJ modified electrode can detect trace level of PXL from 0.01–210 μM with low detection limit of 0.003 μM and sensitivity of 2.23 μA μM–1 cm–2. The proposed sensor has been successfully applied for the sensitive determination of PXL in various environmental samples with satisfactory recovery values. This research investigation offers us an awareness of an incoherent design of sustainable electrocatalytic material for the real-time environmental monitoring applications.