Electrochemical sensor for determination of nitrobenzene in aqueous solution based on nanostructures of TiO2/GO

Abstract

We synthesized polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) based on nanostructures of flower-like hierarchical rutile-phase TiO2 nanorod microspheres that were grow on oxide graphene sheets (GO). The synthesis parameters were modified to obtain desired morphologies (flower-like and cauliflower). The two PNC of TiO2/GO were characterized by scanning and transmission electron microscopy, dispersive energy spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The modified graphite electrodes with TiO2/GO were evaluated as an electrochemical sensor in the determination of nitrobenzene (NB) using CV. The physicochemical characterization techniques confirmed the growth of the rutile-phase TiO2 nanoarchitecture on the GO sheets surface. The sensitivity and the detection interval of the sensor increase with the increasing amount of GO, reaching concentrations of the parts per billion. The TiO2/GO sensors shows an acceptable repeatability, reproducibility and stability in the detection of nitrobenzene (NB), and the recovery results in synthetic wastewater samples are excellent.