It is essential to develop new nanomaterials able to improve sensing performance of electrochemical sensors for determination of heavy metal pollutants. In this work, a novel nanoscale metal-organic-framework material (Yb-MOF) with Ytterbium (Yb) rare-earth metal core and benzenetricarboxylic (BTC) ligands was prepared in aqueous conditions using hydrothermal approach. The results have revealed highly porous structure of the as-synthesized material with specific active area up to 1166 m(2) g(-1). A sensing platform was then constructed by drop-casting Yb-MOF onto glassy carbon electrode for detection of two most commonly found heavy metal ion pollutants (Cd2+ and Pb2+) in water sources. The nanoporous structure of Yb-MOF is very profitable to the selective preconcentration of targeted metal ions. The detection limits were estimated to be 3.0 ppb, 1.6 ppb for Cd2+ and Pb2+ species, respectively. This work provides a new electrochemical sensing platform for fast and sensitive in-situ detection of water contaminants. [GRAPHICS] .