Fabrication of selective chemical sensor with ternary ZnO/SnO2/Yb2O3 nanoparticles

Abstract

Construction of highly efficient toxic chemical sensors is the key approach for the determination of carcinogenic chemicals in the environment and ecosystem. We report here, an efficient acetone chemical sensor based on the analytical performances such as sensitivity, lower-detection limit, reproducibility, and good linearity. The proposed acetone-detecting electrode was introduced by the implementation of ZnO/SnO2/Yb2O3 nanoparticles (NPs) as a successful electron mediator with glassy carbon electrode (GCE) assembly. The prepared NPs of ZnO/SnO2/Yb2O3 were well crystalline-doped nanomaterial and produced by implementation of hydrothermal procedure at low temperature. The conventional methods such as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), ultraviolet visible spectroscopy (UV/vis), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and powder x-ray diffraction (XRD) were utilized for characterization of prepared NPs in terms of morphological, elemental, optical and structural properties. The large linear dynamic range (LDR) of 0.34nmolL−1 to 3.4mmolL−1 with lower detection limit (S/N=3) of 0.05±0.002nmolL−1 and a higher sensitivity of 17.09µAmmolL−1cm−2 were exhibited by lab-made fabricated sensor based on ZnO/SnO2/Yb2O3 NPs for selective acetone detection. In shortly, the ZnO/SnO2/Yb2O3 NPs are utilized as an excellent electron mediator with Nafion/GCE assembly in a chemical sensor for acetone detection even at the very low concentration. Therefore, the chemical sensor is fabricated with ZnO/SnO2/Yb2O3 NPs may be a promising highly sensitive sensor by reliable I–V detection method for the effective detection of hazardous and carcinogenic chemicals in medical as well as health-care fields.