Effect of cavitation erosion in the sonochemical exfoliation of activated graphite for electrocatalysis of acebutolol

Abstract

This study mainly covered the cavitation erosion in probe sonication and its electrochemical behavior. The activated graphite was exfoliated by the probe sonication wherein the titanium alloy (TA) is used as a probe (micro-tip). The sonication performed in the aqueous solution contains a mixture of sulfuric acid and nitric acid (1:1). The exfoliated graphite (EG) was examined by field emission scanning electron microscope, Raman and X-ray diffraction pattern analysis. The results showed that some TA particles dissolute from the TA micro-tip accompanied with graphite exfoliation. This dissolution experienced from the cavitation erosion, because the acoustic cavitation makes severe deformation on probe tips due to the bubble collapse. The dissolution rate increased when increasing sonication time; the resultant TA particles are randomly distributed over the EG. These EGTAs applied to the electrochemical oxidation of acebutolol which revealed an appreciable electrochemical performance and also exhibited better analytical performances to the electrochemical determinations. The obtained analytical parameters viz., sensitivity (0.234 µA µM−1 cm−2), linear range (0.01–15.1 µM), and limit of detection (0.003 µM) are highly comparable with the previous reports. Moreover, it has an acceptable tolerance with the interfering substances.