Green material: ecological importance of imperative and sensitive chemi-sensor based on Ag/Ag2O3/ZnO composite nanorods

Nanoscale Res Lett. 2013 Sep 8;8(1):380. doi: 10.1186/1556-276X-8-380.

Abstract

In this report, we illustrate a simple, easy, and low-temperature growth of Ag/Ag2O3/ZnO composite nanorods with high purity and crystallinity. The composite nanorods were structurally characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy which confirmed that synthesized product have rod-like morphology having an average cross section of approximately 300 nm. Nanorods are made of silver, silver oxide, and zinc oxide and are optically active having absorption band at 375 nm. The composite nanorods exhibited high sensitivity (1.5823 μA.cm-2.mM-1) and lower limit of detection (0.5 μM) when applied for the recognition of phenyl hydrazine utilizing I-V technique. Thus, Ag/Ag2O3/ZnO composite nanorods can be utilized as a redox mediator for the development of highly proficient phenyl hydrazine sensor.