Abstract
Urea is an added value chemical with wide applications in the industry and agriculture. The release of urea waste to the environment affects ecosystem health despite its low toxicity. Online monitoring of urea for industrial applications and environmental health is an unaddressed challenge. Electroanalytical techniques can be a smart integrated solution for online monitoring if sensors can overcome the major barrier associated with long-term stability. Mixed metal oxides have shown excellent stability in environmental conditions with long lasting operational lives. However, these materials have been barely explored for sensing applications. This work presents a proof of concept that demonstrates the applicability of an indirect electroanalytical quantification method of urea. The use of Ti/RuO2-TiO2-SnO2 dimensional stable anode (DSA®) can provide accurate and sensitive quantification of urea in aqueous samples exploiting the excellent catalytic properties of DSA® on the electrogeneration of active chlorine species. The cathodic reduction of accumulated HClO/ClO− from anodic electrogeneration presented a direct relationship with urea concentration. This novel method can allow urea quantification with a competitive LOD of 1.83 × 10−6 mol L−1 within a linear range of 6.66 × 10−6 to 3.33 × 10−4 mol L−1 of urea concentration.
Highlights
The structure of the synthesized electrosensing Ti/RuO2 -TiO2 -SnO2 films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD)
3.31 × 10−4 mol L−1 with an error estimated at +16%, which is acceptable for an online measurement that provides a continuous evaluation of urine in real effluents. These results can be related to the presence of interferents in synthetic urine as discussed during the study of the effect of coexisting species. This proof of concept demonstrates that Ti/RuO2 -TiO2 -SnO2 (50:40:10 atom. %) DSA
The preparation method of mixed metal oxide electrodes allowed obtaining a morphological composition of tetragonal RuO2 and anatase TiO2 with a solid solution of ruthenium and tin atoms into the TiO2 structure
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Urea is an important raw material for the chemical industry. Urea is widely used in fertilizers, animal food supplements, cosmetics production, and even in the pharmaceutical industry [1]. Despite the low-toxicity associated with urea, its undesired accumulation in the environment has been associated to soil acidification, eutrophication, groundwater pollution, and ammonia emissions to the air [2]. Online monitoring of urea is of the utmost importance for industrial processes and for environmental health
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