Vertically Aligned CuO Nanowires Based Electrode for Amperometric Detection of Hydrogen Peroxide

Abstract

Vertically aligned copper oxide (CuO) nanowires were synthesized by directly heating copper foil on a hotplate under ambient conditions. The as-grown CuO nanowires film is mechanically stable and was facilely attached to a glassy carbon (GC) electrode, offering an excellent electrochemical sensing platform. The CuO nanowires electrode shows excellent electrocatalytic response to H 2 O 2 with significantly lower overpotentials for its oxidation and reduction and also exhibits a fast response and high sensitivity for the amperometric detection of H 2 O 2 . The novel vertically aligned CuO nanowires electrode is readily applicable to other analytes and has great potential applications in the electrochemical detection.Keywords: CuO, Nanowires, Reduction, Oxidation, Hydrogen peroxide DOI: 10.1002/elan.200804299 Hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), a strong oxidant, has been widely used in many fields, including food production [1 -3], pulp and paper bleaching [4,5], sterilization [6], the oxidation of organic substances [7 -9], liquid-based fuel cells [10 -14], and clinical applications [15,16]. H 2 O 2 is also readily present in a variety of commercial products such as cosmetic and pharmaceutical products [17]. Furthermore, as a product of enzymatic reactions catalyzed by a large number of oxidases, H 2 O 2 concentration can be correlated to the concentration of target substrates, thus is practically important in the field of biosensor development [18 -22]. Consequently, there are growing interests to study the oxidation and reduction of H 2 O 2 at different electrode surfaces, and the detection and quantification of H 2 O 2 still remains a significant endeavor in various fields.In the past decades, many analytical methods, such as titration [23], spectrophotometric [24,25], fluorometric [26,27], chemiluminescence [28,29], and chromatographic [30 -32] techniques have been developed for the detection and quantification of H 2 O 2 . Although sensitive and reliable, these methods are either time-consuming or expensive, and/ or require skilled personnel, therefore they are unsuitable for rapid and cost-effective determination of H 2 O 2 . Thus, electrochemical methods have emerged as a preferable alternative, owing to their relatively low cost, efficiency, high sensitivity, and ease of operation [33 -41]. With the development of nanotechnology, new efforts have been emphasized on using novel nanomaterials to reduce the overpotentials for H 2 O 2 oxidation and reduction and minimize the interference. CuO, a p-type semiconductor with a narrow band gap of 1.2 eV, is promising in such application because CuO nanostructures have unique advantages including the high specific surface area, chemical stability, electrochemical activity, and high electron communication features. Recently CuO nanoparticles were immobilized on a Nafion membrane coated platinum electrode and proved to perform well as H 2 O 2 reduction catalysts in a strong basic solution (0.1 M NaOH) as CuO nanoparticles play an important role in transferring el...

Synthesis of CuO nanoflower and its application as a H2O2 sensor

“…Figure 3b displays the amperometric response of the CuO NFS/Nafion-Au upon the addition of H 2 O 2 at an applied potential of 0⋅35 V. A subsequent addition of H 2 O 2 to stirred PBS produces a remarkable increase in the current. The response time is < 3 s, revealing the faster response of the sensor to H 2 O 2 detection than that of other H 2 O 2 sensors based on CuO (Jia et al 2008;Miao et al 2008). The calibration plot of the sensor under the optimized experimental conditions is shown as the inset of figure 3b.…”

Copper oxide nanofibres for detection of hydrogen peroxide vapour at high concentrations

“…It can clearly be seen that the resistance contribution caused by the surface charge is less temperature dependent than the bulk resistivity due to the ionisation of acceptors. So it is assumed that the surface states generated by gas adsorption have a position well below the Fermi level at the surface, where their occupation remains unchanged by [4,5] CuO has also been shown to be suitable as sensing material for vapour phase detection at concentrations in the percent v/v range (Fig. 6).…”

Electrodeposit nano-copper oxide on glassy carbon electrode for simultaneous detection of guanine and adenine

“…Liu prepared an electrochemical sensor by electrodepositing nano-copper oxide on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) for H 2 O 2 detection [25]. The copper oxide nanowire film was facilely attached to a GCE, and the CuO nanowire electrode showed excellent electrocatalytic response to H 2 O 2 [26]. CuO nanospheres were applied to modify the GCE for sensitive nonenzymatic glucose detection [27].…”