Hydrothermal Synthesis of Cr2Se3 Hexagons for Sensitive and Low-level Detection of 4-Nitrophenol in Water

• Published in: Scientific reports 2018-03, Vol.8 (1), p.1-9, Article 4839
• Main Authors: Ramaraj, Sukanya, Mani, Sakthivel, Chen, Shen-Ming, Palanisamy, Selvakumar, Velusamy, Vijayalakshmi, Hall, James M., Chen, Tse-Wei, Tseng, Tien-Wen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 140/146; 639/301/357/1018; 639/638/11/511; 639/638/169/896; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Photoelectron spectroscopy; Rivers; Scanning electron microscopy; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Spectrum analysis; X-ray diffraction; X-ray spectroscopy; X-rays
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-23243-3

We report a simple hydrothermal method used for the synthesis of Cr 2 Se 3 hexagons (h-Cr 2 Se 3 ) and its application towards electrochemical sensing of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). The formation of h-Cr 2 Se 3 was confirmed by using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The electrochemical activity of the h-Cr 2 Se 3 modified screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) towards 4-NP was studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and amperometric i-t techniques. Typically, the obtained results were compared with those for a bare SPCE. The CV result clearly reveals that h-Cr 2 Se 3 modified SPCE has higher catalytic activity towards reduction of 4-NP than bare SPCE. Hence, h-Cr 2 Se 3 modified SPCE was concluded as a viable sensor for sensitive determination of 4-NP. Under optimized conditions, h-Cr 2 Se 3 modified SPCE demonstrates the excellent capacity to detect the 4-NP in a linear range from 0.05 µM to 908.0 µM. The LOD and sensitivity in detection of 4-NP were determined at 0.01 µM and 1.24 µAµM −1 cm −2 respectively. The sensor is highly selective and stable and shows reproducible recovery of 4-NP in domestic supply and river water samples.