Communication—Highly Sensitive Ag/ZnO Nanorods Composite Electrode for Non-Enzymatic Urea Detection

Abstract

Sputtered Ag on zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod-structures grown on a carbon paper substrate were investigated as an electrocatalyst for non-enzymatic oxidation of urea. The Ag/ZnO nanorod-modified electrodes were characterized by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry in 1 M KOH electrolyte with 0.33 M urea. The synergetic electrochemical performance due to the combined Ag and ZnO nanorod materials shows a good sensitivity of 0.1622 μAμM−1cm−2 with a low detection limit of 13.98 μM. Simple and scalable fabrication of the electrode can make it a potential candidate for non-enzymatic urea sensor with reproducible and sensitive detection.