<p>As a representative member of neonicotinoid insecticides, imidacloprid (IMI) has seen growing application in agricultural seed coating treatments, raising widespread concerns over its associated environmental accumulation and food chain contamination. Graphdiyne (GDY), an emerging star carbon nanomaterial following graphene, has demonstrated exceptional versatility in analytical sensing; however, its application for electrochemical detection of IMI remains unexplored. Herein, we reported the fabrication and systematic characterization of a novel electrochemical sensing platform based on graphdiyne-coated carbon nanotube (GDY/CNTs) nanohybrids, synthesized via a facile in-situ growth strategy, for sensitive IMI detection. Key operational parameters including PBS buffer pH and GDY/CNTs modification loading were systematically optimized to enhance sensing performance. Under optimal conditions, the GDY/CNTs sensor exhibited a wide linearity of 0.01–10 µM, with a low limit of detection of 3.2 nM and a high sensitivity of 1.4656 µA·µM⁻¹. Importantly, the developed sensor achieved satisfactory recovery rates (≥ 95%) in real sample analysis, revealing its practical applicability. This work established a reliable GDY-based electrochemical approach for rapid, sensitive, and accurate IMI detection in complex matrices, expanding the analytical applications of GDY-based materials.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>