Fern shaped La2O3 nanostructures as potential scaffold for efficient hydroquinone chemical sensing application

Abstract

Herein, we report the synthesis and analysis of fern shaped La2O3 nanostructures as potential scaffolds for efficient hydroquinone chemical sensing application. A facile, low-cost hydrothermal method was applied for the synthesis of 3D fern shaped La2O3 nanostructures. Several techniques were employed to characterize the synthesized La2O3 nanostructures. XRD analysis confirmed the hexagonal phase for the La2O3 nanostructures with an average crystallite size of 35.18 nm. FESEM and TEM analysis established the 3D fern shaped structures for La2O3 nanostructures with dendritic arms of different lengths alongside triangular-ovate outlines. Purity, composition and vibrational features were confirmed by EDS, FTIR and Raman spectroscopic studies. The fabricated 3D fern shaped La2O3 nanostructures modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) showed remarkable electron mediating properties towards hydroquinone even at very low analyte concentrations. The linear dynamic range (LDR), experimental limit of detection (LOD) and sensitivity for 3D fern shaped La2O3 nanostructures modified GCE in phosphate buffer solution (PBS) were found to be 0.0781–0.625 mM, 0.0781 mM and 463.3 μA mM−1cm−2, respectively. Finally, a mechanism was also proposed for the electrochemical sensing of the hydroquinone. The presented work thus, confirms that the 3D fern shaped La2O3 nanostructures may be the future potential candidates for fabricating efficient and reproducible electrochemical sensors.