Abstract
A novel electrochemical sensor for the detection of anthracene was prepared by modifying a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with over-oxidized polypyrrole (PPyox) and Ag-Au (1:3) bimetallic nanoparticles (Ag-AuNPs). The composite electrode (PPyox/Ag-AuNPs/GCE) was prepared by potentiodynamic polymerization of pyrrole on GCE followed by its overoxidation in 0.1 M NaOH. Ag-Au bimetallic nanoparticles were chemically prepared by the reduction of AgNO3 and HAuCl4 using C6H5O7Na3 as the reducing agent as well as the capping agent and then immobilized on the surface of the PPyox/GCE. The nanoparticles were characterized by UV-visible spectroscopy technique which confirmed the homogeneous formation of the bimetallic alloy nanoparticles. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the synthesized bimetallic nanoparticles were in the range of 20–50 nm. The electrochemical behaviour of anthracene at the PPyox/Ag-AuNPs/GCE with Ag: Au atomic ratio 25:75 (1:3) exhibited a higher electrocatalytic effect compared to that observed when GCE was modified with each constituent of the composite (i.e., PPyox, Ag-AuNPs) and bare GCE. A linear relationship between anodic current and anthracene concentration was attained over the range of 3.0 × 10−6 to 3.56 × 10−4 M with a detection limit of 1.69 × 10−7 M. The proposed method was simple, less time consuming and showed a high sensitivity.
Highlights
Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are chemical compounds that consist of fused aromatic rings and do not contain heteroatoms or carry substituents [1]
Several methods including immunoassay [5], gas chromatography [6] and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with UV-vis absorbance or fluorescence detection [7,8] and capillary electrophoresis (CE) equipped with laser-induced fluorescence [9] have been used for the determination of PAHs
The formation of silver-gold alloy nanoparticles by simultaneous reduction of gold and silver ions was confirmed by the use of UV-visible spectroscopy
Summary
Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are chemical compounds that consist of fused aromatic rings and do not contain heteroatoms or carry substituents [1]. They occur in oil, coal, and tar deposits and are produced as by products of fuel burning (whether fossil fuel or biomass). PAHs are one of the most important groups of pollutants and have been identified to be teratogenic, carcinogenic, and mutagenic They have been shown to disrupt sex hormones, affect immunocompetence of organisms, and pose reproductive and developmental toxicity as well as skin defects in animals [2,3,4]. The aim of this work is to develop a simple and less time consuming electroanalytical method for the determination of one of the highly carcinogenic polyaromatic hydrocarbons namely, anthracene
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