Hydrogen-bond organic-framework-based electrochemical sensor for highly sensitive determination of trace cadmium ions in environmental and e-cigarette samples

Background The heavy metal ion Cd 2+ is acutely toxic, and excessive concentrations can have adverse effects on human production and life, and even lead to significant public health risks and environmental impacts. There are several mature non-electrochemical methods for heavy metal detection, but these methods are characterized by high cost, which makes it difficult to be applied to the field for timely detection. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare a new electrochemical sensor that is environmentally friendly and capable of detecting Cd 2+ in the environment quickly, easily and sensitively. Results In this study, hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) were synthesized by a simple hydrothermal reaction. The prepared materials consisted of only C, N and O and had a thin lamellar structure. The HOFs were integrated into a novel electrochemical sensor to achieve accurate detection of Cd 2+ ions in real aqueous environments by square wave anodic dissolution voltammetry. The sensor has a wide linear range and a detection limit as low as 0.13 μg/L. Several real water samples, such as tap water, lake water, and e-cigarette digest, were analyzed to simulate the working environment of the sensor, and the results showed that the recoveries of Cd 2+ ranged from 95.75 % to 101.2 %. Significance We pioneered the detection of heavy metal ions Cd 2+ in e-cigarette digestate samples with the innovative use of HOFs as the sensor material, which demonstrated the potential application in electrochemical sensing with extremely low background current value and high sensitivity, providing new ideas for environmental monitoring and public health control.