Polycrystal CuO Curved Nanowires with Photocatalytic Antibacterial for Highly Sensitive Photoelectrochemical Detection of Ultralow-Concentration Ethanol in Solution

Abstract

The polycrystal CuO curved nanowires were synthesized on Cu mesh by a facile alkalization method. The visible light-driven CuO curved nanowires were observed to have highly sensitivity for non-enzymatic ethanol sensing in solution and fast antibacterial property under flashlight irradiation. Compared to the single-crystal CuO nanowires, the polycrystal CuO nanowires were investigated based on the analysis of the morphology, nanostructure, theoretical modeling, and photoelectrochemical performance. As a result, the highest photocurrent densities were obtained by polycrystal CuO curved nanowires, as the facet heterojunction in curved nanowires played a key role, which existed in the interface between facets CuO (111) and CuO (110) resulting in the effectively separation of photoelectron-holes, thereby increasing the charge carrier density. Herein, the CuO curved nanowires were assembled as a photoelectrochemical sensor to detect the low concentration ethanol ranging from 10 to 100 nM, and then showed a high sensitivity. The fast antibacterial performance of CuO curved nanowires was found to completely kill 107 CFU/mL E.coli under flashlight irradiation in 20 minutes. The proposed CuO curved nanowires electrode with self-cleaning performance can be ideal for monitoring the low concentration ethanol in real-time at room temperature as photoelectrodes.

Nanostructure-Based Solution Sensor Fabricated with p-CuOx/n-TiO2 Nanojunctions To Identify Species and Concentrations of Alcohol Molecules

“…Alcohols are widely used in industry, agriculture, and daily life, and the highly accurate detection of alcohols has been the focus of much research. , Various methods have been reported for detecting alcohol in solution, including liquid chromatography and electrochemical . However, these sensors are limited in their applications and locations due to their large size and need for a lot of solutions.…”

“…21,22 Various methods have been reported for detecting alcohol in solution, including liquid chromatography 23 and electrochemical. 24 However, these sensors are limited in their applications and locations due to their large size and need for a lot of solutions. In contrast, MOS-based chemiresistive sensors have the potential for miniaturization and detection using small volumes of solution.…”