Non-enzymatic nitrite amperometric sensor fabricated with near-spherical ZnO nanomaterial

Zhenyu Cheng; Haiyan Song; Xianfa Zhang; Xiaoli Cheng; Yingming Xu; Hui Zhao; Shan Gao; Lihua Huo

doi:10.1016/j.colsurfb.2021.112313

Non-enzymatic nitrite amperometric sensor fabricated with near-spherical ZnO nanomaterial

Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces. 2022 Mar:211:112313. doi: 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2021.112313. Epub 2021 Dec 30.

Authors

Zhenyu Cheng¹, Haiyan Song², Xianfa Zhang³, Xiaoli Cheng⁴, Yingming Xu³, Hui Zhao³, Shan Gao³, Lihua Huo⁵

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Functional Inorganic Material Chemistry, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Heilongjiang University, Harbin 150080, China; College of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Jilin Institute of Chemical Technology, Jilin 132022, China.
² Key Laboratory of Functional Inorganic Material Chemistry, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Heilongjiang University, Harbin 150080, China; College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Longdong University, Qingyang 745000, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Functional Inorganic Material Chemistry, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Heilongjiang University, Harbin 150080, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Functional Inorganic Material Chemistry, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Heilongjiang University, Harbin 150080, China. Electronic address: chengxiaoli@hlju.edu.cn.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Functional Inorganic Material Chemistry, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Heilongjiang University, Harbin 150080, China. Electronic address: huolihua@hlju.edu.cn.

PMID: 34990880
DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2021.112313

Abstract

A unique near-spherical ZnO nanostructure was synthesized by using mixed solvents composed of polyethylene glycol-400 (PEG-400) and water at the volume ratio of 12:1 via the solvo-thermal method, and it possessed an ideal morphology with higher uniformity, better dispersion and small particle size. Such ZnO was employed to modify glass carbon electrode (GCE) for the construction of electrochemical sensor, i.e. near-spherical ZnO/GCE, whose nitrite sensing performance was evaluated by Chronoamperometry (CA) and Linear Sweep Voltammetry (LSV). In order to emphasis the superior sensing property and extensive suitability for different electrochemical detection techniques, the excellent but not the same nitrite detection performance obtained from CA and LSV was individually given in detail. This sensor based on CA showed broad linearity range of 0.6 μM-0.22 mM and 0.46 mM-5.5 mM, improved sensitivity of 0.785 μA μM^-1 cm^-2 accompanied with low LOD of 0.39 μM. With regard to LSV, wide linearity response of 1.9 μM-0.8 mM and 1.08 mM-5.9 mM, high sensitivity of 0.646 μA μM^-1 cm^-2 with LOD of 0.89 μM were obtained. Meanwhile, this sensor displayed outstanding repeatability with RSD of 2.96% (n = 4), high reproducibility with low RSD (1.72%-2.35%, n = 4), strong selectivity towards nitrite with the concentration set at one-tenth of the interfering substances, ideal stability with the peak current intensity above 90% of its initial value after storage for one month and acceptable recovery of 1.72-2.35% to actual samples including ham sausage, pickle and tap water. The near-spherical ZnO nanomaterial may be a preferred candidate for the fabrication of nitrite electrochemical sensor, which may exhibit a fascinating application in terms of food analysis and environmental monitoring.

Keywords: Electrochemical sensing; Near-spherical nanostructure; Nitrite; Zinc oxide.

MeSH terms

Electrochemical Techniques / methods
Electrodes
Nitrites* / analysis
Reproducibility of Results
Zinc Oxide* / chemistry

Substances

Nitrites
Zinc Oxide